Fate's Humor
by PrincessAmeliaFox
Summary: Naruto has a being in his mind in addition to Kyuubi. He decides that enough is enough, and leaves Konoha. Takes place shortly after Valley of the End fight. Suck at summaries. Its better than it sounds please read. NaruHina. On hiatus
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, sadly (but that's all about to change... Mwahahahahahaha!!!)**

**AN: I'm not that experienced with writing, so don't bust a blood vessel if this story isn't the best. No flames please. Constructive critisism is welcome, though.**

**_'hey brat' _**- Kyuubi mind speaking

**'blah' -** Kyuubi talking

**(blah)** - Kyuubi thinking to himself(Naruto and crew can't hear)

_'blah' - _mind speak

_(blah) _- character thinking

"blah" - character talking

**blah -** justsu

_(blah) _- inner Sakura

**

* * *

**

Fate's Humor

Chapter 1

Voices. They were talking about something, but he didn't know what. He felt like he was floating in a sea of honey. The feeling of sleep wouldn't go away. Finally, after what seemed like a decade at the least, he opened his eyes slowly. And was rewarded with a bright light almost blinding him. He snapped his eyes shut, and then opened them, blinking slowly.

"He's awake. Finally." The voice belonged to someone that Naruto assumed was one of the doctors. Wait a second. What was he doing in the hospital? Suddenly, the events that had transpired, and ended with him in his current state, came flashing through his mind. Sasuke. The fight at the Valley of the End. Failure.

"What happened?" Just those two words were a chore to say, coming out scratchy and hardly recognizable as any form of human language.

"Well, _demon_," Naruto could tell by the tone of voice that the doctor was sneering, "It seems that the mission to retrieve Sasuke failed miserably. It is quite obvious why."

Naruto mentally sighed. He was REALLY tired of this kind of thing. Heh, maybe Sasuke had been onto something when he decided that the village was nothing more than a congregation of fools. With that thought in mind, Naruto blanked out again.

He awoke a few hours later, and noticed that the hospital room was completely empty of occupants other than himself. Naruto moved his limbs slightly, trying to feel what was wrong and what wasn't. There seemed to still be a slight problem with his left arm. If he remembered correctly, he'd used that arm to deflect a chidori. He was actually slightly surprised that it was still attached. No matter. The wound had already faded to minor burns, and looked about a week old, though the betrayal couldn't have been more than a day or two ago.

Naruto gingerly picked himself up out of the bed, not wanting to strain himself, and not seeing and point in keeping his mask on with no one around to see him. He sighed at the thought and walked over to the window. It was locked. Of course, being a ninja, it took Naruto all of three seconds to pick the amazingly simple lock. He got the distinct impression the doctors in charge of his care didn't care if he hurt himself trying to leave.

Slipping out of the now open window, Naruto made his way to his apartment. Sadly, he didn't ever bother cleaning it, but that was because, in the past, some moron or another that couldn't tell the difference between _container_ and _contained_ trashed the place. He hadn't kept anything even remotely valuable to him in his apartment in a while, instead choosing to hide it somewhere else. Though it wasn't really as if he had that much of value. He really needed to stop this line of thought. Though only an experienced ANBU would've been able to tell, he was really pissed. That was never a good thing. It was okay to pretend to be getting really emotional, but not to actually do so.

He landed in front of the door to his apartment, and went in. The place had been trashed again. Great. Just frecking great. Naruto sat on the slab of wood with a blanket on it that he jokingly called his 'bed', and fell into a meditative position. Time to have a chat with the Baka no Kitsune.

Naruto came to in the same old, familiar sewers. This place seriously needed some redecorating. He looked up at the great iron cage, and shouted, "Hey! Baka no Kitsune! I'm calling a meeting between you, Bakenokawa, and me!"

"**This isn't like you, brat. You _never_ have called a meeting between the three of us to this day." **A sinister voice snarled from the depths of the cavern, as the Kyuubi appeared, with a grin, if such a visage could be called that, worthy of the Cheshire cat. It did wonders in showing off his immense canines.

Naruto yawned, completely ignoring the fox, as he waited for Bakenokawa to show. He didn't have to wait long. His alter ego's presence was premeditated by a splashing sound, as he rushed through the corridors. Sliding around the corner into the room, he flashed one of Naruto's trademark fox-grins, earned a scowl from the fearsome demon fox.

"Hey everyone! Whatsup?" True to his nature, Kyuubi growled at him, flexing his claws, and started to list things that he would do to the almost mirror image of Naruto if he ever got out of his cage.

"Shut it, you two. I called this meeting for a reason. We need to discuss what we are going to do next." Naruto said to the two bickering spirits.

"HUH?!? Don't you normally just either let Bawa make the decisions, or once in a blue moon, make them yourself? What's with this sudden democracy thing?" It was obvious that the millennia old demon fox was confused. He knew that the brat always hid behind layers upon layers of masks, but this was kinda sudden and REALLY out of character. 

"I'm confused too. I may not have been paying that much attention, but what the hell is going on here?!?" was Bakenokawa's puzzled reply to Naruto's statement.

"I'm asking you two because this is the biggest decision in mine and Bawa's lives.." At this point Naruto took a deep breath before continuing. "I'm considering leaving the leaf."

3…

2…

1…

**_"WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?!?" _**Naruto had expected a reaction like this, and was slightly amused at how in sync Kyuubi and Bawa had been in their outburst.

"It's exactly as I said. I'm sick and tired of all this, and I'm considering leaving. I want to know what the two of you think before making any rash decisions." Naruto sounded amazingly calm while saying all of this. "It is actually a notion that I have been entertaining for a while."

**"I could care less what you do in regards to your village, but leaving and becoming a missing-nin would be very dangerous, and you need to think this through thoroughly. Otherwise, anything is fine by me." **Typical Kyuubi reply.

"I'm not really sure. It's kinda hard to act one way all your life, and then to go against that. I think we should wait and access the situation before making any rash decisions. Kyuubi also has a point with the whole danger issue."

"Makes sense. Maybe it won't be as bad as predicted. Things rarely turn out how we expect. Of course, it never hurts to be prepared. Any suggestions?" Naruto asked the two living within his mind.

**"You were to preoccupied to notice, but in the room in which you found the Forbidden Scroll, there were many others. I'm sure those could come in handy."**

"Oh, that's such an great idea Kyuubi! One question. How the HELL are we supposed to get enough time to read all of those?" Bawa question the fox.

**"I happen to know a jutsu that will allow us to copy the contents of those scrolls onto empty ones, and we can just skim the tittles, we won't be needing them all." **Kyuubi scolded the second brat, as he thought of him.

"I think Bawa would be good for this job. I can be trying to find out information on what's happening while the two of you sneak into the scroll room. This will also be a perfect field-test for the **Gizensha Bunshin no Jutsu**."

"Yeah, also to test out my doppelganger abilities!" Bawa shouted, much like Naruto supposedly did.

**"Remind me again how these alleged doppelganger abilities of yours are any different from a henge and good acting skills?"**

"Bawa's doppelganger abilities not only allow him to make himself look like a person, but all he needs is a few seconds of physical contact with a person and he can copy every single thing about them, from their looks, to their smell, even their chakra signature. He can know squat about them and act exactly as they would, down to the smallest personality quirk. Also, it takes a lot more than a simple hit to dispel the transformation, because it isn't a genjutsu and is actually physical. Also, if e can hang onto the person for about half a minute, he can copy bloodline abilities, as was proved when he partially copied Haku's Hyuton. Of course, t requires more practice to actually work at all, but you get the point." Naruto took a breath after his particularly long speech.

"Enough chit-chat. Let's go!!!" Bawa was as enthusiastic as always.

In the real world, Naruto opened his eyes. It had only been one or two moments since he had entered his subconsciousness. He stretched and looked around, taking note of the sign that someone had bothered to paint on his wall. It was the usual crap. Nonsense about how he was a demon, yada yada yada, and all that kind of junk.

He went into his bathroom, and found it in the same state of disarray. Shrugging, he bent over and carefully lifted up some of the tiles. He kept his 'real' clothes in here. Not the usual orange tracksuit, but instead real ninja clothes, as black as pitch. He closed the bathroom door, and quickly executed a series of hand seals. When he was done, he felt his mind being ripped in two, as a clone made out of pure chakra appeared, and materialized into the doppelganger's true form.

Bawa, when bothering to disguise himself, looks like Naruto's twin. When shifting between forms, when not holding up the disguise, and when forming outside of Naruto, looks like a blur. That's really the only way to describe it accurately. He basically looked like the vague outline of a person, and looking at him is like looking at anything else with astigmatism as a factor. He was blue, with streaks of red chasing each other throughout his 'body'.

"This feels crazy weird," Bawa remarked. His voice sounded like it was coming from all around you, and had a metallic drone to it. Like a robot with surround sound.

His form started to shift, and within seconds in front of Naruto stood a man of average height, with averagely shaded skin, brown hair, brown eyes, and a perfectly average facial and skeletal structure, in fact, everything about his man made you want to just simply register him as 'nothing', and concentrate on something more extraordinary. He simply picked up the black garments lying in the niche in the floor, and slipped them on. Finding that the current settings were too small, he adjusted the outfit until it was his size. This done, he picked up the black head wrapping, and tied it around his head so that only his eyes showed. He slipped on black moccasin, after some more fiddling. He now looked like one of those ninja you see in the movies. Now, you were even less likely to notice him. The only thing that trademarked him was that he smelled like a rat, and had the chakra aura of a rat.

The disguised Bakenokawa walked into the central hallway, and proceeded to head for the bedroom. It was empty. It seemed, though, that while he was dressing Naruto had cleaned up a bit by shoving all the trash into one corner and mostly washing off the graffiti. It still was faintly visible, but if you looked closely enough, such marking were all over the room, like a unique wallpaper. Turning around, he headed to the kitchen. He was greeted by the sight of Naruto cleaning up after the vandals.

Grinning from ear to ear, a coughed to get Naruto's attention. When said person turned around, Bawa saluted and exclaimed, "McDonald Joe, reporting for duty!"

At that, Naruto started laughing. "You have a weird sense of humor, Bawa."

"Not at all. My sense of humor is perfectly normal. It's everyone else's that is weird." Bawa solemnly stated, still grinning like a madman.

"Heh. Funny as always. You ready?" Naruto causually asked.

"When have I ever not been ready?"

"Do I really need to list all the times you've been caught off guard, or unprepared for something?"

"Uh… No?"

"Thought so."

**_'Do you two mind? We currently have a mission to complete,' _**growled a voice in both Naruto's and Bawa's heads.

_'Yeah, yeah, we'll get right on it your royal majesty.'_ Bawa mocked the fox.

**_'Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…'_**

_'More like royal pain!'_ Naruto sided with his alter ego. _'Though I hate to admit it, Baka no Kitsune is right. We need to get moving.'_

**_'Hmph.' _**The demon fox obviously was peeved.

Bawa knew that he and Naruto had always had fairly good stealth skills, but this was ridiculous. There was a whole squad of ANBU guarding the place, and it had been as easy as breathing to get in. Now that's bad security. What if Bawa had been an enemy ninja?

Shrugging, he slipped into the scroll room. Quickly checking for traps, he found a few, and disabled them all. He crossed over to where the Forbidden Scroll was, and took out a scroll. He then opened it slightly, and applied chakra to one of the symbols, producing a scroll similar in size to the Forbidden Scroll. He gathered chakra in his hand like the Kyuubi instructed, and touched the scroll, and then he used some demonic jutsu to copy its contents. Now for the tricky part. He placed his hand over the summoned scroll, and concentrated on pasting the contents of the Forbidden scroll into his scroll.

This done, he resealed the scroll, and placed the Forbidden Scroll backed in its place. He quickly went around the room, copying any scrolls that were even slightly interesting. One in particular caught his eye. It was concealed by an advanced genjutsu, and if it hadn't been for the kitsune within him he would have missed it. He carefully undid the genjutsu, and then disabled the numerous traps surrounding the scroll. Picking it up, he saw that its title read: Secret Techniques of the Hokages. His eyes widened a fraction or two, and he quickly copied the scroll. He reapplied the genjutsu and reset some of the traps. He then scanned the rest of the room, copying any remaining scrolls of interest. Not a single one of them compared to what he had found.

He discovered that getting back out of the scroll room was shockingly even easier than getting in! He hadn't even thought that possible. After exiting, Bawa took a roundabout route to the rendezvous point, to throw off possible pursuers.

He soon arrived at the mouth of a small cave on the side of the mountain. It looked just like any other crack in the enormous wall, but Naruto had discovered that the crack, after narrowing quite a bit, opened into a room sized cave, with many places to stash things. This was where Naruto hid all of his valuable stuff, and it also served as a hideaway. Naruto had actually found it on accident when trying to escape some slightly to heavily drunk villagers. Since then he had used it as a storage shed almost.

It would be a few more hours until Naruto showed up, so Bawa lit up the mysterious glow ball, that only need a pulse of chakra to work. When activated, it would float to the ceiling and provide light. Bawa next took out a chess set, and created a clone. He put Kyuubi's chakra mainly into the clone, also partially giving it Kyuubi's mind. The two look-alikes settled back, and without a single word, started a game of chess. They really needed to find more ways to pass the time.

* * *

**(Earlier that day)**

After Bawa left, Naruto spent about fifteen to thirty minutes fixing up his apartment until it was at least livable in. Anything else was a waste of time and effort. He got dressed, and prepared to face the village. He would have rather spend the whole day training until he was to tired to even think, but he need to gather some information. He figured that the best place to start would be Sakura.

He exited his apartment, and started heading toward the Hokage Tower. Naruto wouldn't be seeing Bawa again until sunset the next day, so he'd have to really try hard to act. Bakenokawa was the actor among the trio. This was going to be tough without him. Anyways, Naruto figured that he might get into another situation like this, but instead with his life ridding on the line, so it wouldn't hurt to practice his own acting skills.

On his way to where he assumed Sakura trained, whom should he meet but the pink-haired girl herself? She was walking with her friend, Ino. Naruto quickly threw up his usual façade, and called out to Sakura. "Hey! Sakura-chan! Can you tell me what happened after I blacked out?" Cheerful as always.

"Naruto! How _dare_ you be so cheerful when Sasuke-kun just betrayed us! You wanted him to leave, didn't you?"

Upon hearing her accusation, Naruto's mask started slipping. Yup. He needed to work on his acting skills. "Huh? Why would I be glad that Sasuke's gone?!? He was my best friend!"

Sakura, too wrapped up in her emotions, didn't notice his mask starting to crumble, but Ino did. She felt bad for him. Sakura was being kinda mean. "Ya right! Like Sasuke-kun would be friends with a dead last like you! You didn't even try to bring him back! I heard that you were the one that pushed him to leave in the first place! Don't pretend that you actually cared about him, _monster_!!!" Sakura didn't know why she said that last part, but she had heard others call him that sometimes, and it seemed fitting when it was Naruto's fault that her precious Sasuke-kun was gone!

Sakura's words struck deeper than anyone else's ever had. Naruto's mask crumbled completely. Sakura was to angry to notice, but Ino saw the pain written on his face, plain as day, before he turned and ran. She could've sworn she saw his shoulders shaking, like he was trying hard not to cry. She felt truly sorry for him. "Hey, Sakura, don't you think that was a little to harsh?" Ino asked her closest friend quietly.

"Of course not! The moron had it coming." Sakura's voice was full of ice. When she later calmed down, she would deeply regret her words to Naruto, but at this moment she didn't.

Naruto ran as fast as he could away from Sakura's biting words, fighting an uphill battle not to just simply curl up and start sobbing then and there. He made it to his apartment, and managed to close the door, before he broke down. He cried for about an hour straight. It made sense. No matter what had happened to him, he hadn't cried since the New Year's Eve in which he was six years old. His new year's resolution had been to never cry because he was sad ever again. In hindsight it was a stupid promise. He had actually kept to it up until this point, occasionally crying, but he was always faking it, just to put on a show. This was the first time in six years he'd cried straight from his torn and bleeding heart. Afterwards, he didn't have the heart to find out anyone else's opinion, and instead trained until he had knocked himself unconscious.

The next day, as Bakenokawa was sitting in a cave playing chess with a demon fox, Naruto was waking up where he had fallen as a result of his training session the day before. He used a low level henge, to subtle to be detected by anyone other than a jounin or higher, and walked into the town. He wandered all over, and found, to his dismay, that pretty much everyone blamed him for Sasuke's betrayal. They all also blamed him for the injuries his teammates had sustained. Going to Shizune, Naruto found out that Neji and Chouji had come back in critical condition, but were going to recover. He also found out that Kiba, Akamaru, and Lee had all been badly injured. It didn't help his moral. He knew, deep down, that they didn't blame him for their injuries, but he couldn't help but to feel guilty, and in addition the villagers' words were getting to him.

He was getting really depressed. He could count on both hands his number of 'friends', and he could count on one hand the number of people he really felt were close to him, and now with Tsunade pretty much ignoring him, Sakura snapping his head off, Sasuke gone, Kakashi nowhere to be seen, and Iruka to busy with the academy to pay much attention to him, he felt truly alone for the first time in a long while.

He felt the crushing weight of reality settle down on his shoulders, and something inside of him snapped. He unconsciously clenched his fist, before punching the nearest wall, reducing it to rubble. In his anger, he had accidentally used Tsunade's strength technique. Not noticing the pile of broken bits of stone that had once been a wall, Naruto started running through town, not caring who saw him. He slowed down once he was deep within the forest. At this point the Jinchuuriki turned and headed in the direction of the hideaway, and what at this point felt like his only two friends in the whole world. As he walked, three blue jays flew in a line over head. If you believed in old omens, you would probably consider this a sign of change. But believing in that kind of stuff's just ridiculous, right?

* * *

**END OF CHAPTER 1**

**Bakenokawa- as far as I know this means something along the lines of disguise and/or masking one's own true character. correct me if I'm wrong. As far as I know Bawa doesn't mean anything, it's just Kyuubi and Naruto's nickname for him.**

**Gizensha Bunshin no Jutsu- I think gizensha means something along the lines of hypocrite or fox in a lamb's clothing. Bunshin means clone and jutsu means technique. This is the clone technique that Naruto uses to bring Bawa out into the real world**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto, I don't own Naruto, me no own Naruto, and did I mention that I DON'T OWN NARUTO!!!**

**Sorry for any OOCness in this chapter. Not many of the characters are going to be acting exactly like themselves. Also, be warned: Sakura bashing ahead.**

**No flames please. Constructive critisism is welcome as always, as well as any suggestions you might have. Please review.**

**Review Responses:**

**firareth5: I'm planning on doing something like that. he may not hate Sasuke, but he's going to definetly hate Sakura, and probably Kakashi**

**Dragon Man 180: Good idea**

**The High Demon Lord: Thanks**

**Grave Lion: Don't really understand this review...**

* * *

Fate's Humor

Chapter 2

"Hmph. Weakling. To think that even your younger sister could so easily beat you! Get out of my sight." Hiashi snarled at his older, and in his eyes, incompetent daughter.

"Y-yes f-father," Hinata stammered out, her gaze fixed firmly on her feet. If only she wasn't so weak. She was nothing more than a burden, and no matter what her teammates said, she knew that they thought the same! Hinata was unable to do anything other than fail miserably, unlike Naruto-kun, who, no matter the challenge he was faced with, could always stand up and be proud!

As she thought about her crush, she wandered out into the woods, walking aimlessly. Her ninja senses picked up on the sound a footsteps ahead of her. She paused, immediately aware that she was very far away from Konoha by now, and this mysterious stranger could be an enemy. The Hyuuga heir timidly activated her Byakugan, scanning the trees ahead of her. It was no enemy that she saw, but instead her beloved Naruto-kun!

After getting over her initial shock at seeing him this far away from Konoha, she saw that he looked extremely sad and subdued, and was muttering to himself. Hinata squinted, trying to read his lips in order to find out what was bothering the object of her love. What she saw surprised her.

"Stupid villagers. What did they ever do for me anyways? Nilch. No wait, they did do something! The bastards ignored me, beat me, and insulted me! It would serve the assholes right if I left. Its obvious I'm never going to be liked here. Might as well go." He mumbled.

Hinata had to fight to keep herself from gasping. He was planning on leaving?!?!? She had to stop him! Knowing that he was angry right now, and it would be better to approach him when he'd cooled off, she quietly slipped away.

* * *

Meanwhile, having finished his tirade against the citizens of Konoha, Naruto collected himself, and then calmly started walking in the direction of Bawa and Kyuubi. He could still communicate with Kyuubi, but it would take a lot of chakra, since Naruto and Bawa hadn't bothered forming a soul link before they separated to carry out their tasks. 

He traversed the track through the forest towards the cave at a brisk pace. Normally he would have at least slowed down in order to admire the scenery, but now everything was monotonous to him. He felt a crushing weight on his chest. A sorrow of sorts. He'd learned the hard way that life is rarely fair, but why him? Why did he of all people get stuck with this burden?

It was one of the mysteries of life that he would probably never solve. If only he'd been born even a few hours later. If only one of his parents had survived the Kyuubi attack. If only more people had been able to tell the difference between him and Kyuubi. There were so many 'if only's that it was enough to drive most people insane. Luckily for Naruto, or unluckily, depending on how you look at it, he was used to this kind of depressing musing, so the only purpose it served was to make him slightly more depressed. And so much more sure of his decision to leave what had been his home for the past 12 years.

After running for a minute or two, he landed outside of the cave. Slipping inside, he was greeted by the sight of Bawa and a Kyuubi chakra manifestation playing chess. Bawa was losing badly. It was actually quite funny, and caused Naruto to grin.

"ARGH!!! How the hell are you this damn good at chess?!?" Bawa practically was on the verge of pulling his hair out.

'**_Because, unlike you, I actually have a brain,_**' was Kyuubi's snide reply.

"Hey you two, I'm back, and I've made my decision," Naruto interjected before a fight could break out.

'**_Nice timing brat. I don't think I could've stood another minute with this dumbass.'_**

"Hey!"

"We're leaving."

"Huh?"

'**_About time if you ask me._**'

"Well, we didn't, you damn fox!"

"Bawa, calm down. Kyuubi, stop taunting him."

"K"

'**_Hmph'_**

"Could you two return to my mind now?"

"Oh, yeah." As soon as these two syllables left Bawa's mouth, the Kyuubi manifestation dissipated, and Bawa went back to his doppelganger form, before fading away.

Naruto picked up the scroll that Bawa had left behind, and slipped it into his pack. He walked around the room, taking various items out of their places and stuffing them in. There wasn't much, but it was all he had, and probably more than he would need. Even after he put everything in it, his backpack still sagged. As an afterthought Naruto change out of his eyesore orange clothes and slipped into a dark-green long-sleeved shirt and black pants. He then proceeded to set a smaller version of the outfit that Bawa had been wearing earlier into the pack. If he needed anything else he could always pick it up on the road.

His bag packed, Naruto headed back into the village in order to leave a note stating that he had left, and calmly requesting that they didn't make him a missing-nin, seeing as he didn't have any hard feeling towards Konoha, despite all they had put him through. The sun was setting by the time he finished.

* * *

Hinata was sitting on a stone bench on the path of Konoha. She couldn't believe she was doing this. It wasn't like she'd be able to make much of a difference. 

The timid Hyuuga looked up when she heard footsteps. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw who it was. Naruto was walking along the path, his head down. He looked miserable. This wasn't helped by the fact that fifteen minutes ago it had started to rain.

As Naruto approached Hinata gathered her courage, stood up, and called out to him.

"Naruto-kun, wait!"

"Huh? Hinata-san? What do you want?" Hinata flinched when she heard the unconcealed sadness in his voice.

"N-Naruto-kun, y-you c-can't leave! What about your dream? What about your friends?"

"What friends Hinata-san? As far as I know I have none. My dream was to be acknowledged. That's never about to happen in this hellhole that people call a hidden village." His voice dripped with hate, making Hinata's kind heart cry out.

"N-Naruto-kun, if your not going to stay here with me, th-then p-please, t-take m-me with you!" Hinata begged Naruto. "My life here is miserable. My father and everyone else says that I'm nothing more than a useless weakling, and they are correct. You were always my inspiration. I look at you, and I see the person that I wish I could be. Naruto-kun, I may be a failure at everything, but I l-love you!"

Naruto, upon hearing her words, felt immensely sorry for the Hyuuga heiress. She had family, but they ignored her and called her weak. She was also alone. "Hinata-chan, I'm sorry, but I can't take you with me. The life of a missing-nin is hard, and you deserve better. You wouldn't be happy with me, Hinata-chan." When he said this, Hinata glanced up, and opened her mouth, as if she was about to object. "Anyways, there's another reason you shouldn't come with me." Naruto's expression didn't change, but his eyes betrayed how sad the thought made him.

"Why? What is it that makes you so sad?

"Hinata-chan, what I am about to say will probably make you hate me. I understand if you choose to do so. You see, everyone has been lied to about what really happened twelve years ago, on the date of my birth, when the Kyuubi no Kitsune supposedly died. The truth is, he wasn't killed. Instead, the Yondaime Hokage gave his life to seal the demon fox within a newborn child. That child was I." As soon as e finished his speech, Naruto looked back at the ground, and continued walking past Hinata.

When Hinata heard the demon vessels sad words, she felt angry. Not at Naruto, but at the villagers who had shunned him. The cruel words, the either cold or furious glares, they all made sense now. If anything, Hinata's will to leave behind this disgraced village strengthened.

"It doesn't matter! You're still the same Naruto I fell in love with! In fact, this only makes me admire you more. To carry such a burden, to everyday keep the Kyuubi no Kitsune from coming out and destroying Konoha, you truly are a hero, and not a monster!" Hinata, for the first time in her life, actually shouted. Her words caused Naruto to freeze up for a moment, but then he continued heading towards the gate out of Konoha. Seeing this, the timid, shy girl naturally assumed that he was ignoring her, causing her to start to cry.

Turning his head ever so slightly, Naruto called back over his shoulder, "Well, what are you waiting for? Come on." Just those two words caused hope to bloom in Hinata's chest. Nodding, she ran to catch up to him, taking off her forehead protector and stuffing it in one of the pockets on her oversized jacket. Tomorrow was a new day.

* * *

(in the Hokage tower) 

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, HE LEFT?!?!?" Tsunade screamed at the ANBU that had just informed her of Naruto's departure. Calming down ever so slightly, she ordered, "Call Nara Shikamaru here. It seem that I have a mission for him."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," the ANBU stated, and then went to go find the lazy chunin.

* * *

Literally half a minute later, said lazy chunin burst into the Hokage's office. "What the hell? Did I hear correctly? Did Naruto actually leave?!?" He was almost shouting. There was no way Naruto would leave! 

"Sadly, yes. I need you to gather a team to go and bring him back. He's probably just upset about something. Shino, Tenten, Sakura, and Ino are free. Also, if what I was told is correct, Hinata left with him. Try to bring them both back alive and not to hurt. He left this note in his room."

Shaking, Shikamaru took the note from her hand and proceeded to read it.

Dear Tsunade and Whomever Else Reads This,

I have had enough. I am leaving Konoha for good. No matter what you say, 

you can't convince me to return. Maybe someday I'll see some of you again,

maybe not. If we ever do meet, I just want you to know that I harbor no ill

will towards Konoha and the people that reside there. I will only attack a

Konoha shinobi if they provoke me into doing so. This said, I would

appreciate it if you didn't make me a missing-nin. Tell Iruka-sensei that I'm 

sorry I had to leave. Don't worry to much. I don't plan on joining any evil 

organizations, or joining Orochimaru. I simply plan on becoming a free

lancer. Who knows, I may even give up the path of the shinobi completely. 

Thanks in advance. Goodbye.

Sincerely,

Uzumaki Naruto, former shinobi of the Leaf

"N-no way. He wouldn't leave! There's no way." Shikamaru was having a hard time adjusting to this new revelation. "You're right, Hokage-sama. He needs to be brought back. I will form a team and leave immediately." That said, Nara Shikamaru exited the presence of the slug Sannin, intent on bringing back the hyperactive blonde.

* * *

(a few minutes later) 

"What?!? He left?" Ino was obviously as shocked as Shikamaru had been when he heard the news, if not more.

"About time. This place is better off without him." Sakura growled, still angry at Naruto.

"Sakura-san! How can you say that about your own teammate?" Tenten was amazed that Sakura could hate the blonde so much for something that wasn't his fault.

"Sakura-san, Naruto-san had nothing to do with Sasuke-san's betrayal," Shino stated. Calm as ever.

"Sakura-san, Naruto-san tried his hardest to bring Sasuke-san back. He was almost killed!" Shikamaru scolded the pink-haired girl.

"Yeah, right. Then how'd he recover so quickly?"

No one could answer this particular question. Ino was really pissed at Sakura by now. "Look, billboard brow, it doesn't matter what you think, Naruto-san is a shinobi of this village, and its our duty to bring him back!" Ino screeched at her friend.

"Fine. But I'm not enjoying this."

"Okay, now that that's all settled, here is our plan." Shikamaru quickly told them about his view on the situation, and what he believed to be the best course of action. "Everyone clear?"

"Yes," the others of the retrieve Naruto team chorused.

"Good. Another thing. It seems that Hyuuga Hinata has left as well. We need to bring her back too. Let's get going." And so, without further ado, they set out.

* * *

(In the forest somewhere) 

At that moment Naruto and Hinata were running through the tree tops, heading full speed away from Konoha. Motioning for Hinata to stop, Naruto paused, and sniffed the air. Thanks to his Kyuubi enhanced senses, he could smell the pursuit.

"Damn it all to Hell. Hinata-chan, can you check behind us with your Byakugan? I believe that we might have followers."

"Y-yes, Naruto-kun." Hinata, though more assertive than before, still had major confidence issues. She turned around, and quickly scanned the forest behind them. When she saw their pursuers, she gasped. "N-Naruto-kun, we are being trailed by Shikamaru-san, Shino-kun, Tenten-san, Ino-san, and Sakura-san."

"sigh I thought something like this would happen. They'll catch up to us eventually, so we might as well no put off this encounter for to long." After saying this, Naruto turned to face the direction that his former comrades were coming from.

Minutes later, the two groups came face-to-face with each other. Coming to a halt twenty meters away, Shikamaru observed the one that had been called dead-last and failure. There was something different about him. No longer was he smiling. His gaze showed sadness beyond human comprehension, and the cloud-watching genius began to wonder if they were doing the right thing in dragging Naruto back. Come to think of it, the villagers always used to glare at Naruto with undisguised hate, and both ninja and citizens alike would tell their children not to play with him. Naruto had always been alone, and his smiles always had seemed empty, almost as if they were faked.

"What are you guys doing here?" The tone of Naruto's voice caused the retrieval team to flinch. It wasn't the presence of extreme emotion that caused them to do so, but instead the lack of it. This wasn't the smiling, happy idiot that they knew. It was a stranger, someone with a gaze so cold it would make a polar bear shiver. The Naruto they were familiar with had a voice full of cheerfulness, a child's voice. The voice of this person was nothing like that. It was hollow and empty. The voice of an emotionless, cold-blooded killer.

"What do you think we're doing here, baka? We came to bring you back!" Ino shrieked. "What were you thinking, anyways?"

"That's why you're here? Then quit while you're ahead. I'm not coming back. No matter what." The way he said it left no room for doubt. He was dead serious.

"Leave then. It's fine with me, traitor. Go to Hell for all I care." Sakura snarled at her only remaining teammate.

Naruto's eyes hardened even more at that point, the blaze that was hate evident behind the ice. "Sakura, don't!" Tenten whispered urgently to the bubble-gum haired kunoichi.

"I was right about you. Not only are you a monster, you're a traitor to this village. You would be doing the world a favor if you just dropped dead!" Sakura screeched at Naruto, her fury to great to make her think about what she was saying.

That statement was the straw that broke the camel's back. When I say this one might think I was referring to Naruto, but no. He was too used to this kind of thing to react over much to it. Hinata, though, was a different matter.

"Don't you EVER call Naruto-kun that again, bitch!" Hinata practically screamed at Sakura. The volume of her voice surprised everyone there. Who knew the timid Hyuuga could be this loud? Of course, part of their shock was more than likely capable of being attributed to the fact that Hinata had Sakura's neck in a death grip, lifting the bubblegum haired bitch about half a foot off the tree branch they were standing on. It was quite hard for Sakura to breath.

"Hinata, calm down, and please put Sakura down." Shino placidly droned.

"Sure thing, Shino-kun." Hinata grinned sadistically as she swung the arm that held the captive kunoichi away from solid footing, and then proceeded to let go of Sakura's neck, causing her to plummet down quite a ways before she caught herself on a tree branch with chakra. Her arm still almost ended up yanked out of its socket.

"Can't say she didn't deserve that," Naruto calmly stated, unfazed by Hinata's ruff treatment of Sakura.

Everyone else was in shock from Hinata's actions, and Naruto's response. "Why the Hell did you do that, Hinata?" Now it was Tenten's turn to shout. This was completely uncharacteristic of both the Uzumaki and the Hyuuga.

"It seems that the two of you won't be coming back willingly." At this point Naruto interjected with a 'duh', which Shikamaru promptly ignored. "Everyone, remember the plan? Go!"

On his cue Tenten jumped into the air and bombarded Naruto with various weapons, while Shino rushed Hinata. As soon as Naruto was distracted with dodging the metal rain of doom, Shikamaru snaked out his shadow, and caught the startled blonde in it. As soon as he did so, Tenten pulled on chakra strings, returning all the weapons to her. Shino and Hinata were busy fighting on the sidelines, while Sakura attempted to safely return to the canopy.

When Ino saw that Naruto had been caught, she wasted no time in focusing her body possession jutsu on him. With a burst of chakra, she sent her soul into his. Hinata, seeing Naruto's downfall, attacked, not Shino, but instead the branch he was standing on, causing him to fall down. As fate would have it, she didn't get to rescue Naruto quite yet, for Sakura had just finished ascending, and was now focusing her attacks on Hinata.

Remembering what Sakura had said about her crush, Hinata's earlier rage returned. Seeing the kunai and shuriken coming her way, she did something that normally, she wouldn't even have attempted to do, she was so fully convinced with her own weakness.

"Kaiten!" The shock on Sakura's face was evident as Hinata spun around, successfully deflecting the attack. That wasn't the end of the surprises, though. "You are within my field of Hakke." Sakura couldn't help but gasp when she heard the familiar words coming out of Hinata's mouth. "Hakkeshou: Rokujuu Yonshou!" Hinata charged at the startled kunoichi.

"Two palms!"

"Four palms!"

"Eight palms!"

"Sixteen palms!"

"Thirty-two palms!"

"Sixty-four palms!"

Her attack completed, Hinata smirked. "You lose." Sakura collapsed, falling off the tree branch, to land on her back on another three stories below with a sickening crack, knocking her unconscious.

While this was happening, Ino was entering Naruto's mind. There was one slight problem, though.

* * *

(within Naruto's mind) 

Something was wrong. Most minds looked organic, pulsing with life, and were easy to take over. Not so with Naruto's mind. She awoke in a sewer, water dripping around her. The place was dreary and dank. Ino involuntarily shivered. What was up with Naruto's mind?

Looking around, Ino became aware of a presence, radiating from somewhere within the labyrinth of Naruto's mind. Ino suddenly remembered an old myth about an endless maze, that shifted itself constantly, and in order to exit one needed to have a magical key. The labyrinth was supposedly guarded by a Minotaur, which would shred any intruders that it came across to bits. This place reminded her of that, and the presence made her think of the ferocious monster of legend.

Despite her fears, Ino was unable to resist her curiosity about the foreign chakra. It certainly wasn't Naruto's own, but then what was it? After a few turns, Ino came across a doorway, though she couldn't see what lay on the other side, it was so dark. She was beginning to suspect why curiosity is considered very dangerous. The blonde kunoichi steeled herself, and bravely advanced into the darkness, closer to the source of this mysterious chakra.

* * *

**END OF CHAPTER 2**

**Hakkeshou: Rokujuu Yonshou: Hands of Divination: 64 palms**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Sorry, but I'm not going to kill of Sakura. I am going to be mean to her, though. Anyone remember the fact that she fell three stroies just about and when she landed something cracked? She's not going to be a happy camper...**

**Just to warn everyone, I will be updating spasmodically. My updates can be anywhere between hours apart to weeks apart. I'll try to update at least once a week.**

**Disclaimer: If you've read this far into the fanfic you should know this part by now**

**Reviews:**

**To all of you who thought that Hinata's change of character was extreme: I thought so to. I just explained it to myself as a mixture of the infamous plot-no-jutsu and the fact that she was really pissed.**

**Hinata is going to be gaining confidence as time goes on. It won't happen immediatly, but it'll probably happen in the next couple of chapters**

**Zachura: my computer thought so too**

**Dragon Man 180: About the his friends leaving also thing, I'm planning on having at least one of them leave at some point in time, maybe not all, but one or even two. possibly three**

**thanks to all of you who think that my story's good**

**please review. constructive critisism is welcome as always, and if you see anything worng with my fic, and have any suggestions on how to fix it, please tell me. I don't consider those flames. If you're just going to sass me incessantly, don't bother reviewing. if you don't like it, I'm not focing you to read it**

**I'm kinda stuck on what other parings to do. if anyone has any suggestions on side pairings that they would like to see, please tell me.**

**Also, I can't decide where Naruto and Hinata shall go to first out of all the places that Naruto's made friends that he's promsed to visit again. Any suggestions?**

* * *

(within Naruto's mind)

She couldn't breath. The darkness closed in around her, suffocating her. There was nothing. No light, no substance, no sound, and no air. Suddenly, an eerie light lit up the cavern she was in. Ino preferred the darkness.

In front of her was an enormous cage door. It was held closed by nothing but a small slip of paper with the kanji for 'seal' inscribed on it. The walls oozed an unnatural purple, red, and blue slime. The only sound was that of some gargantuan creature's breath, reverberating off of the sewer walls.

As suddenly as the room had been lit, something started to chuckle. Two blood red eyes, wreathed in flame, shone from the dark depths of the cage. They were the keen eyes of a predator. Then, Ino saw its teeth. This… _thing_ displayed them with a grin worthy of the Cheshire cat. The fangs were thrice as long as Ino was tall.

"**My, my, my, what have we here? A scrumptious little morsel come to play? I haven't been able to eat in such a long time, and the sweet taste of the flesh of little girls has for even longer been denied to me. This will truly be a feast." **The demon cackled. Its voice dripped with hate, anger, and bloodlust. Ino shrieked when she heard it. This monster was going to eat her!

"Furball, cut it out." That voice! It was familiar. Ino gasped and turned towards its owner. Naruto was standing there, calm and placid. "Sorry 'bout him, Ino. He won't hurt you. The seal won't let him."

"N-Naruto, w-what I-is t-that?" Ino stammered out.

"A egocentric demon fox," Naruto casually replied.

"What the hell is a demon fox doing in your mind?"

"Plotting world domination. Though, I think you mean how did he get in my mind. When I was born, on October 10, he was sealed into me by the Yondaime Hokage."

"Wait a sec. That's the Kyuubi?!?" Ino didn't actually react all that badly to the news. Of course, she was in such a state of shock already that you could've told her that Sasuke was her long lost twin and she wouldn't have even blinked.

"Heh, yeah. The Yondaime wasn't able to kill him, so he did the next best thing. It wasn't exactly that good for me, though."

"Wait, that's why everyone always seemed to hate you, isn't it?" Ino felt sorry for the blonde Jinchuuriki. He was nothing like the sadistic creature that lurked within his mind. She could see why he would want to leave.

"Yup. Oh, and Ino, sorry to be rude, but would you mind exiting?"

"Uh, sure thing, Naruto."

The people in the real world who were still conscious were extremely surprised when Ino's soul came rocketing out of Naruto's body, reentering her own. She promptly fell unconscious.

"Man, this is so troublesome," Shikamaru mumbled when he saw that Naruto was getting back up. He was pretty much out of chakra by now, and Tenten had used up quite a few of her weapons. This wasn't looking good. Considering the situation, Shikamaru decided that Shino alone probably wouldn't be enough to beat both Naruto and Hinata. So he called a retreat. Sakura needed medical attention immediately, anyways. He didn't want to abandon the mission, but it seemed that he had no choice. The two runaways let them leave.

* * *

(Hokage's office)

"What do you mean, Hinata has left Konoha with that demon brat?!?" Hyuuga Hiashi was obviously pissed.

"Calm down, Hiashi. We sent a squad out after them, and they should be returning shortly." Tsunade tried to sooth the Hyuuga family head.

Almost as if it had been rehearsed, right at that moment one of the Hokage's guards opened the door, and said, "Nara Shikamaru wishes to see you. He says that it's urgent."

"Send him in. Hiashi, before you complain, Nara Shikamaru was the one heading the squad sent after Hinata and Naruto."

"Hmph," was Hiashi's impatient reply.

Nara Shikamaru entered the Hokage's office, looking slightly worse for the wear, quite depressed, but most of all, confused.

"Report," Tsunade ordered the lazy genius.

"We failed. Sakura and Shino fought against Hinata, and she broke the branch that Shino was standing on, causing him to fall quite a ways. Sakura wasn't so lucky. Hinata successfully performed **Hakkeshou: Rokujuu Yonshou **on her, and following this, Sakura collapsed, falling three stories before severely injuring herself when she landed on her back."

His report of Hinata's skill level caused her father to gasp. His daughter had never been able to come even close to performing that technique before!

Ignoring Hiashi, Shikamaru continued. "Tenten, Ino, and I took on Naruto. Tenten distracted Naruto, while I caught him in my **Kage Mane no Jutsu.** Ino then used her technique to enter his mind. That was where something weird happened. Ino's jutsu was a success, but after about a minute she was suddenly expelled back into her own body, before passing out. When this happened, I felt a weird chakra coming from Naruto. It felt kind of like that time when he fought Neji."

Shikamaru didn't fail to notice both the Godaime's and the Hyuuga head's reactions. Their faces and, more importantly, eyes, showed incredible shock, and even the slightest amount of fear.

Shikamaru quickly finished his report. "After that, I called a retreat. The two of them let us leave."

"Thank you, Shikamaru-san. You may go now." The medic-nin was the first to recover from her state of shock.

"Hai, Hokage-sama." The newly promoted chunin wasted no time in leaving to contemplate what he had learned.

* * *

(Hyuuga main family household)

"Hiashi-sama, what is the news on Hinata's escape?" One of the Hyuuga council members questioned.

"The team that the Godaime sent after them failed miserably. Hinata and the Kyuubi brat are still at large. I want you to send out of a group of trusted branch members to intercept them. I want them to either capture, or if all else fails, slay Hinata."

"Hai, my lord. What shall we do about the demon boy?"

"Having a missing-nin demon on the loose is a danger to Konoha. Kill him."

"I'll make sure to know that the chosen squad knows their orders well, and the consequences if they happen to fail."

"You are dismissed."

When the head of the Hyuuga main household said this, the military orientated elder that he had been speaking to left to gather the necessary shinobi.

* * *

(Hyuuga branch family household)

"Damn. I can't believe that we've been sent after them! What's all this bullshit about killing them?" Neji raged.

"Neji-san, you understand why we have to do this, I know you do. Hinata's byakugan cannot be allowed to fall into enemy hands. And no matter what the Hokage says otherwise, Naruto is a missing-nin and a potential danger to Konoha."

"I know that! Why the hell did they runaway in the first place anyways? Damn it all to Hell!"

"Calm down. We're not going to get much done if we're upset," his teammate pointed out, "Our orders were to try to capture Hinata first, before doing anything else. We don't have to kill her."

"I know that! I just can't believe that Naruto has been labeled as a danger to Konoha! He'd never harm this place."

"Despite that, orders are orders, and he did leave."

"I know. I just wish we could do this another way."

* * *

(somewhere in the woods)

"Hey, Hinata-chan, let's stop here for the night," Naruto called to his traveling companion, landing outside of a small cave. "It's out of the way, and would be difficult to spot." In reality, it wouldn't just be difficult to spot. The entrance was actually under the cave, hidden behind a large pile of brush. It was a mystery how Naruto had spotted it. A jounin would have had more trouble than he did. Then again, it might have had something to do with a three-story tall fluff ball.

"A-alright, N-Naruto-kun," Hinata stammered out, blushing slightly.

"You know Hinata-chan, you really should be more confident in yourself. You were amazing during the chunin exams, and especially during that fight against the team they sent after us!"

"Y-you r-really think so?" Hinata asked, a beet-red. _'Naruto-kun thinks that _I_ was amazing!'_

"Yup. Now, come on, let's get inside."

"Sh-shouldn't we s-set up t-traps?"

"Nope. If we did that they'd know we're here, instead of moving on. Nature has already provided us with ways of being warned if someone's coming. The forest around this area if so dense that even an experienced ninja would make a racket coming through here."

"Oh, o-ok."

"yawn I'm sleepy. Time for bed!" Naruto cheerily exclaimed. Hinata couldn't help but giggle at his sudden mood swing from serious to boisterous.

* * *

(hospital)

"DAMN!!! How the hell did this happen to her?" Tsunade was evidently in a bad mood today.

"Well, according to Shikamaru's report, she was hit by **Hakkeshou: Rokujuu Yonshou**, before falling and landing harshly on a tree branch," Shizune said, trying to calm down her superior.

Sakura was in pretty bad shape. The combined stress of the Hyuuga's signature move and slamming into the tree had seriously messed up her chakra coils, possibly ruining her chakra control for life. If that wasn't bad enough, she had broken several bones when she landed, including her spine. She was likely to be paralyzed for the rest of her life. One thing was for sure, her career as a ninja was over.

"There's isn't much else we can do for her. Shizune, tell Jiraiya and Kakashi to come to my office this instant. I need to find out why the hell Naruto ran away in the first place," Tsunade ordered Shizune. She had apparently gotten her emotions back under control. "And, while you're at it, bring me a nice big bottle of sake. I have a feeling that I'm going to need it."

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

* * *

(Tsunade's office)

The Sanin and jounin warily entered the Hokage's office, both right on time. No matter what their personal habits were, they knew better than to be late for a meeting of this importance.

"Jiraiya, Kakashi, am I correct in assuming that the two of you know full well why I called you here?"

"Hai, Tsunade-sama."

"Hai, Tsunade."

"Good. Now tell me, can either of you explain this, along with the actions of your student?" Tsunade asked, handing them the note. Naruto's two mentors read the note, their faces getting paler and paler with each line.

"I really wouldn't know. He was always happy, and only seemed slightly down after Sasuke left," Kakashi said, unable to deduce the fact that Naruto might have been acting.

"It would be hard to know. From what I could tell, he seems to be a natural at acting, and I've noticed his personality, when he's put under extreme stress, suddenly change drastically, then just as suddenly revert to normal. It's also hard to predict how he reacts to things. Just when you think you have him figured out, he goes and does something that you would never have been able to see coming."

"Great. That means it could have been a number of things. Anyways, what the hell did he mean by 'I have had enough'? Enough of what?"

"Probably either people ignoring him completely, or people hating him for the Kyuubi," Jiraiya sighed. He really could use some sake right now.

Kakashi still couldn't believe that the hyperactive blonde that he'd spent most of his time ignoring or only slightly paying attention to could possibly have any problems that would make him want to leave.

"Tsunade-sama, this note says that he doesn't plan on harming anyone from Konoha. Are you going to make him a missing-nin?" Kakashi asked, still in shock.

"No. If we don't provoke him, he will ignore us. It will more than likely be beneficial for us to have him alive, anyways. He might be able to kill off some of the Akatsuki or the sound-nin," Tsunade almost choked on the last sentence. You could tell that she really hadn't wanted to say that.

"As much as I want the brat back, you have a good point," Jiraiya, yet again, sighed.

"Kakashi, are you going to be taking on another genin team anytime soon?"

"No, Hokage-sama. I think I'd like to take a break from teaching for a while."

"You may go then."

"Hai." Without uttering another syllable, Kakashi left, wondering how the hell he had managed to lose his whole team in the space of a few months.

"This must be hard for him. I had enough trouble when my team was killed off separately, and he just lost them all one after the other."

"As much as I would like to give him time to recover, we need him for missions. Want some sake?"

"At a time like this, I believe getting drunk would be a very good idea," Jiraiya said, reaching for the proffered bottle of sake.

* * *

**Kage Mane no Jutsu-Shadow Imitation Techinque: causes the victim to do exactly what the caster does**

**Hakkeshou: Rokujuu Yonshou-can't remember what this one means:blocks off the victim's chakra points, rendering them unable to use chakra**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: This is the last time this whole fanfic I'm going to put this. unless I include something else in here. but don't expect to see another disclaimer for Naruto**

**Reviews:**

**LameJokeGuy: thanks**

**VFSNAKE: good idea about the Wave Country thing. I think I"m gong to use something extremely similar to it**

**everyone who supports this fanfic: thankyouthankyouthankyou**

**I kinda explain the whole whether or not Naruto comprehends what Hinata said in the chapter, but basically he's not used to someone thinkng that way about him, or feeling that way about him, so he doesn't know how to react and is currently sorting out his muddled thoughts. its just a new concept for him, is all. kinda like Gaara with the whole idea of love and caring, Naruto isn't foreign to people caring for him, but he is foreign to them loving him that much and admiring him as someone really strong**

**Please, R&R. Suggestions on pairings, who should leave where, where everyone ends up going, all that kind of stuff is appreciated. if you see anything wrong with my fic (writing stylewise) and have a suggestion on how to fix it, please tell me. even if you don't know how to fix something, tell me anyways, it always helps to know the problem. consturctive critisism is always welcome. if you're just going to bitch about the plot and/or pairings and not suggest another way for me to do things, don't bother reviewing. that is all**

* * *

"Hey, Hinata-chan." It was slightly before dawn, and the duo had just woken up. Naruto wanted to get an early start. He was almost fairly certain that no hunter-nins would be sent after them, but that didn't stop individual groups from pursuing.

"Yes, N-Naruto-kun?" Like Naruto, Hinata was worried about pursuit. She didn't believe for an instant that her father would just let her leave with her byakugan intact.

"We'll be needing a place to stay. I have some friends in the Wave Country that I promised to visit, and wouldn't mind seeing again. If you don't mind, could we head there?"

"Sure th-thing."

"Yay! Thanks Hinata-chan!" Naruto was ecstatic about this new change of events. He started jumping around and celebrating, purely out of habit. His wild antics, when just moments before he had been cautious and very serious. Of course, traveling with a powerful Jinchuuriki who, after the partial dropping of his metaphorical mask, began having mood swings to rival a PMSing fan girl, which would skip from one end of the emotional spectrum to the other, was slightly unnerving, to say the least.

Naruto still hadn't directly replied to Hinata's declaration of admiration and, above all, love, despite what he was. Naturally, he had a very simple reason for this. He still hadn't sorted out the swirling maelstorm that his mind had become after hearing someone declare that they loved him, and that his Jinchuuriki status could rot in hell along with anyone who thought that he was anything other that completely human. Up until this point, he had been used to a) people outright hating him for being the container of the demon fox, b) not exactly hating him for being the demon fox, but still giving him the cold shoulder and acting like he didn't even exist (in his opinion this was one of the worst responses), c) knowing about the fox, but not thinking that he and Naruto were one and the same, and treating Naruto from anything like just a human failure and human waste of time (versus a demon one) to treating him like a little kid who needed to be smiled at kindly and overall not listened to, d) people not knowing that the demon fox was even still alive but still ignoring him and treating him like a failure who was never going to amount to anything, e) the occasional person who he had personally bested at some point or another who acknowledged him as someone worth a moment of their time and concern (Neji, Gaara, Kiba, Haku, Zabuza, and Sasuke were prime examples, and he had either beaten them himself, or in Zabuza's case, did something that led to their downfall). Never, though, had he met anyone who he didn't have to beat admiration and exception out of, who focused their full attention on him without giving off the feeling that they thought of Naruto as a pest. It was a completely new and different experience, one that he wasn't quite used to yet. So, typical Naruto, he decided to ignore it for the time being.

* * *

(Naruto's mind)

"Damn it all to Hell! How did Ino get in here in the first place?"

"Does it really matter? She exited before anything could happen." Bawa was utterly confused as to why Naruto was fretting over the Yamanaka's close call.

"Yes, it matters a lot. What would've happened if she hadn't complied with my request? What if she had encountered Satsubatsu while she was wandering around? What if I'd been the one pushed aside, instead of you?"

**"That's a lot of what ifs, brat. What happened happened, and there's nothing you, or anyone else, can do about it. She didn't run into him, end of story. Stop all this fretting. You're giving me a headache."**

"Well, I'm sorry if me being upset because one of my comrades was almost eaten by Batty is interrupting your beauty sleep!" Naruto's voice had a desperate and stressed edge to it.

"I don't think us interrupting his 'beauty' sleep is going to matter much. All of the R&R in the world wouldn't fix the fact that he's butt ugly!" Bawa just couldn't help but throw in an insult. His joke made Naruto stop stressing and start cracking up, while a certain overly vain demon fox started grumbling something about the slow death by torture of a certain doppelganger.

"Hey, I just had a thought," Bawa said in the ensuing silence.

**"It's a miracle!"** Apparently the Kyuubi also had a sense of humor.

"What is it, Bawa?"

"Ok, first of all, I could never figure out where in all the hells me and Batty came from. Secondly, what in the world is mister vain and firey over there's real name?"

"Firey? Is that even a word?"

**"He has a good point with the origin thing."**

"Yeah, and as long as we're on the topic of the rare occurrence of Bawa having a point, what is your name, anyways?"

**"Hmph, you are a weakling human who doesn't deserve to know my real name! And Bawa, before you say something stupid about how you're not technically a human, you're to plain stupid to know, so buzz off."**

"HEY!!!" Bawa didn't particularly like being called stupid. Naruto, on the other hand, didn't even flinch at the comment. They'd been getting this kind of junk from the fox ever since day one. He had gotten used to it after a while.

"What's your opinion on Bawa and Batty?"

**"Well, though normally those two would be explained off as alter-egos caused by emotional stress, they have not only formed at different times, but Batty formed a few milliseconds after I was sealed into you, and I doubt that a baby would be aware enough to go technically insane. In addition, they both have their own chakra signatures, own independent personalities, and even their own souls, instead of consisting of different sections of you soul."**

"And this means...?" Bawa was puzzled, confused, and currently his brain was short-circuiting.

Naruto, trying to explain the concept to a slightly 'challenged' Bawa, slowly said, "That an out side force must have either inserted them into my head or caused their formation, though there is the slight chance that a bloodline, which might have activated itself when Kyuubi was sealed into me, was the culprit. That would also explain why it's so easy for me to withstand and control Kyuubi's chakra when compared to other Jinchuuriki. A bloodline that allows the user to create alternate versions of themselves within their own system, even going as far as giving them their own genes and bloodline abilities, as is evidenced by Bawa's unique capabilities, would require the possessor to be extremely resilient to foreign chakra."

"Oh... I get it!" Bawa exclaimed, when evidently his brain was still inside out.

**"To put it in simple enough terms for your primitive mind to understand, you and Batty are different people from Naruto. This means that either someone else stuck you in here or you were created by a bloodline of Naruto's."**

Bawa, not liking the fact that the huge fox had noticed his confusion, settled merely for childishly sticking his tongue out at the demon, which made said fox erupt into a sadistic bought of laughter at the pathetic mortal.

Obviously amused, Naruto interjected before Bawa could get any angrier. It really was a pity to stop them. He was having such fun watching the show. "If you two are done, I think that Hinata's done packing. We really should get moving."

"Oh, alright," Bawa whined.

**"Aw, I was having fun!"**

Hearing the Kyuubi no Kitsune's comment, Bawa started muttering something about sadistic demon foxes, though Naruto was certain that he was repeating himself, he'd grumbled about this particular subject so many times.

* * *

(a short distance from the now traveling Naruto and Hinata)

"Target sighted. Prepare to move out."

"Where?" Neji asked his fellow Hyuuga branch family member.

"50 yards ahead, slightly to the right. Traveling at top speed," was the nin's reply.

Neji still couldn't believe that he'd just been assigned to hunt down his own cousin, whom he'd only recently made peace with, Hyuuga Hinata, and the light of Konoha and his new friend, Uzumaki Naruto, and when Neji had just a handful of days ago been released from the hospital. What was even more surprising was the fact that the two had run away. Why? He intended to find out the answer to that one question.

A few seconds after they noticed the two renegades, it was confirmed that they were aware of their pursuers. The chase sped up.

It surprisingly took about an hour before they finally caught up. The Hyuugas had packed soldier pills and had started out fresh, without having to stop to fight along the way, whereas Naruto and Hinata had slipped off a few days ago, and had been constantly backtracking and pushing themselves in fear of pursuit, in addition to the fact that they had fought a battle just the day before. It didn't help that the two had forgotten to back soldier pills. Naruto, true to his unpredictable nature, proved his inborn trickster ability with every opportunity. He and Hinata were constantly disappearing from view, only to pop back up again in 10 different places at once. Neji and his comrades had the distinctive feeling that if Naruto and Hinata hadn't been in such a rush, or if Naruto had been by his lonesome self, they wouldn't have stood a chance at finding them again.

Having been finally caught, Naruto and Hinata came to a stop, before slowly turning around. "May I ask why we are being tracked by five of the Hyuuga branch members?" Naruto politely asked, as if he and his companion weren't running from the law.

"Hiashi-otousan sent you, didn't he." It wasn't a question. Hinata was certain that they had been sent after her, meaning that it was all her fault that Naruto had to deal with an extra fight. Her newfound confidence was quickly deteriorating.

"Hinata-neesan, don't take this personally, but Hiashi-sama had ordered us to bring you back to the Hyuuga compound, where you will be promptly cursed with the caged bird seal, and moved into the branch family."

"Hey, Neji-san, whaddya goin' ta do 'bout little ole me?" Naruto mockingly asked, faking a slight drawl.

"Sorry, Naruto-san, I don't really know why, but Hiashi-sama has ordered us to kill you." Neji just barely kept the sadness out of his tone. He really didn't wanna do this.

"Don't worry. I know why, and I don't blame you for not knowing. It was indeed a law not to even so much as speak of Konoha's personal demon child."

"What do you mean by that?" Neji questioned him, confused by his statement.

"Neji, how much do you know about the Kyuubi no Kitsune?" Naruto's voice was suddenly more serious than Neji had ever heard. He had a bad feeling about what was to come.

"Twelve years ago, he attacked Konoha. His rampage was stopped when the Yondaime sacrificed his own life in order to kill him," Neji replied, slightly nervous. Why was Naruto asking him this?

"That's what they want you to think. Haven't you ever wondered how a mere human managed to kill the most powerful demon alive at the time?" Naruto asked. Neji was beginning to sweat. It couldn't be...

"The answer is simple: he didn't. Instead, he did the next best thing. He used the Shikki Fuujin (sp?) to seal it into a newborn babe, its umbilical cord freshly cut. The unlucky bastard was none other than me, the one and only Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto was hissing by now. His voice made the listener flinch and cower. "Not being able to distinguish the difference between container and contained, the villagers outcasted me. If I was lucky, they ignored me completely, acting like I didn't even exist. On the days when I wasn't so 'lucky', they would beat me. Did you know that I have over 100 scars on my body from that? Of course, you can't see them thanks to a genjutsu that Kyuubi instinctively put up when he realized that he was being sealed into someone, in order to hide the fact that his container is a Jinchuuriki."

The word Jinchuuriki sent shivers running up and down Neji's spine. He and his kind must truly lead horrid lives if they have the official title of 'power of human sacrifice'.

"You don't believe me, do you?" Naruto calmly asked, seeing the look of sheer disbelief etched into Neji's face. Two of the four behind him were sneering, one looked sympathetic, the other looked like she didn't care. "Here, let me show you," Naruto said, sliding off his shirt. Ignoring the fact that Hinata now had a quite serious nosebleed, he made a release hand seal. All six of the Hyuugas could plainly see what they had just assumed to be bad chakra control dissipate, revealing itself to be a complex illusion, even harder to perceive than Tsunade's cosmetics genjutsu.

All six of his spectators couldn't help but at the least gasp when they saw what lay underneath. Hinata had started barfing, while Neji and the sympathetic guy looked like they were about to. The two Kyuubi haters looked extremely sick. Even the calm one, who was an ANBU that had been on a small vacation, looked like he was tempted to follow Hinata's example. Naruto's chest was covered in scars. One of the more prominent ones was right over where his right lung should be. It looked like he'd been struck by a very concentrated bolt of lightening there, and recently at that. The wound was oozing puss. That wasn't the worst, though. You could tell just by looking that he didn't trust the hospitals. It was evident that most of the wounds hadn't received proper care, instead being treated by hand. A few of the wounds obviously had been infected with gas gangrene **(AN: gas gangrene is a nasty disease that occurs in wounds exposed to certain bacteria found in most soil. it can lead to death if not treated. barf-inducing just looking at a drawn picture. not a nice thing to have)**. Kyuubi definitely had his work cut out for him. How could Naruto even fight with all those on him?

Most of the scars weren't completely healed. A few of them were still oozing some puss, and most were either pink or red and puffy. Even a non-medic-nin could tell that they had been reopened at least once, probably more. There were a few that had either faded to where they were just normal scars looking like they had been acquired a while ago, or almost completely faded. They were more than likely mostly older than they looked, based on the fact that most of these looked to have been gotten within the past year, which would have been hard based on the fact that Naruto was a genin who was in non life threatening situations and the fact that Kyuubi's healing of Naruto had been obviously speeding up.

In addition to the many wounds, the dropped genjutsu revealed ribs sticking out, prominent enough even for someone with failing eyesight to count without a single problem. His cheeks had retreated into his face, instead of being slightly filed out now sunken and hollow, making his face look gaunt. He had even less body fat on him then he'd had before. Bones stuck out, looking like they were about to pierce through his skin. The only padding on them was that of muscle, earned through the rigorous life of someone who had to constantly work hard just to get enough to eat. His body was more lithe, and he looked like an acrobat who could throw a hard punch if you happened to get in his way.

The seal was as clear as day, along with several others, focusing mainly around the area surrounding his heart and brain. He had another spiral seal over top over his heart, this one consisting of nine lines instead of one, and what looked like a fox's head right in the middle of his forehead, four tails branching out to either side, the final trailing down onto his nose. The fox's head was etched in purple, and the majority of the tails in red. The top tail on the right side, though, was blue, the one right under it being purple. The spiral over his heart was mainly colored in a pinkish hue, with three of the tails being a light, airy blue, and the fourth light lavender.

"WTF?!? How the hell did a child get so many wounds?" The sympathetic Hyuuga was evidently shocked and angry at Naruto's condition.

"According to most of the villagers and the ninja even, I'm no child. Instead, I am a 'fox in lambs clothing', nothing more than some kind of vermin that needs to be eliminated." Naruto sourly growled, getting angry at the onslaught of memories. "The first beating that I can remember was when I was two. A bunch of drunken villagers cornered me. I managed to get away by falling through a grate and into the sewer system. They tried repeatedly after that, sometimes drunk, sometimes not, sometimes just villagers, most often not. All that actually helped me, though. Since I was so used to fearing for my life, I quickly developed immunity to all but the most powerful of killer intents. Normally either a Jinchuuriki who has lost almost all of their sanity or a jounin or higher who particularly enjoys killing and is actually targeting me is required to make me scared, and I normally get over the second one within a minute, though the first can take a bit longer. I also know the nifty little trick of detecting chakra signatures and killer intent from far away. I've also managed to memorize every nook and cranny in and around Konoha. There are at least two secret passages to every major building, normally many more. And most of them probably aren't even known about. They definitely are checked all that often."

"It doesn't matter. Orders are orders. We still were told to kill you." Apparently that Kyuubi hater on the left had gotten over his shock first. Neji and the sympathetic girl looked like they wanted to fight even less at that moment, and the calm girl was looking like she was having second thoughts. The two Kyuubi haters were the only ones looking like they wanted to fight.

"Now, why should we fight? Can't we just all get along?" When the first Kyuubi hater snarled, Naruto made a quick deduction that this time his attempts at peace making weren't going to go over so well.

"Die, Kyuubi brat!" The second hater screamed, lunging at said blonde. Seeing his attack coming, Naruto slipped into an unfamiliar fighting stance. When the fuming Hyuuga reached him, he twisted his body to the side, subsequently leaning. The outstretched hand of his opponent shot pass him, at which point Naruto took the opportunity to grab him by the wrist. Before KH2 **(Kyuubi Hater 2)** could react, Naruto had launched himself into the air, yanking the chunin along with him. The Kyuubi container twisted in midair, planting his feet onto a nearby tree trunk. He then, as quick as lightning, unwound himself, letting go of the hotheaded KH2 at just the right moment, sending him rocketing through the trees, unable to stop himself before he had gone through several branches, finally landing roughly with chakra. Naruto had apparently discreetly applied chakra to the throw, making it hurt a lot more.

Slightly stunned at how easily the dead last had beaten his twin brother, KH1 charged Naruto, only to be attacked by a recovered Hinata. "Don't lay a hand on Naruto-kun, bastard!" To say that the Hyuugas were shocked at the shy heiresses outburst was an understatement. Hinata, meanwhile, was angry with herself for dragging Naruto into this. In her mind, if she hadn't come along, the Hyuugas wouldn't have come after them, and Naruto wouldn't be fighting five opponent, three of whom were chunin, one a genin, and the final and ANBU who felt like she should currently be enjoying her vacation, instead of fighting a Jinchuuriki, which, no matter the Jinchuuriki's level, is never a good idea. If you get them mad enough, their strength can easily go from zilch to off the charts. Hinata was, of course, wrong about her assumptions, Hiashi had always been one of the leading Kyuubi haters, and would've sent someone to kill him anyways, but she didn't know this.

Seeing that the fight was beginning to pick up, the ANBU girl decided to wait until she was needed. Might as well get a good show for her trouble. SG (sympathetic girl) was undecided as to what to do, and also decided to wait and see. Neji was still in shock, and even if his mind had been calm enough to make a decision, he probably wouldn't have done anything anyways. Either way, he still ended up sitting there watching.

Naruto, sensing that the other three Hyuugas weren't going to be joining the fight for the time being, promptly started ignoring them. He pushed off from the branch as KH2 charged at him again. Wasn't the guy supposed to be a chunin? He should know better than to blindly charge his opponents. Ah well, his funeral. Not giving the Hyuuga time to think, Naruto flipped in the air and landed gracefully behind his opponent, before lashing out with a chakra enhanced kick. The guy managed to move aside enough so that only one or two of his ribs cracked, but he still was sent flying. He managed to start to grab onto a tree branch, which led to him sliding back along it, though he didn't manage to slow down enough to avoid going over the other side, falling even farther down, faster than he had before. He was so busy concentrating on the ground that he was about to hit, trying to cushion his fall, that he didn't notice the tree branch until it was to late. His head ended up slamming horizontally into it, while the rest of him continued falling, snapping his neck. He was very dead by the time he slammed into the forest floor.

Meanwhile, Hinata was giving it her all. She was having some trouble, though. She had managed to inherit her mother's build, one meant for dancing and gymnastics instead of the wall like build that the Hyuuga fighting style of Jyuuken depended on. The fight with Sakura and Shino earlier had been really tough on her, pushing her to her limits. She was still feeling the aftereffects of it. She didn't know what she was going to do. Glancing over at Naruto, she saw him using acrobatics in order to outmaneuver his opponent, and got an idea. It was completely crazy, but Hinata decided to take a page out of her crushes book, and assured herself that it was so crazy that it just might work, versus the other option of getting her killed.

She slipped into a stance that was not only completely experimental, but also halfway between the Jyuuken stance and an acrobat's stance. It was time to try out a new idea that she had been mulling over ever sense the chunin exams.

Her opponent started laughing at her when he saw what he thought was just simply the most pathetic and weak Jyuuken stance he'd ever seen. "Give up weakling. You'll never beat me, for I am the Great –umph-" He never got to finish declaring his name, for right at that moment Hinata had spun around darted forward, delivering a blow right in the middle of his stomach, before spinning aside and using her leverage to twirl behind the stunned KH1. She held her hands out, her elbows slightly bent as she continued spinning, before suddenly one after the other swinging her arm out, delivering two slashing Jyuuken strikes to her opponent, causing him to lose his balance. She kept herself from following him by lightly stepping on the toes of the foot that had been in the air, continuing her spin, and at the same time swinging the foot she had been rotating on around, kicking the Hyuuga in his side, flinging him off the branch, before he crashed into a tree trunk and slid down onto a convenient branch, knocked out.

Naruto had finished slightly before Hinata, and got to watch her graceful fighting style, clearly much better suited to her than the traditional Jyuuken style. There were many similarities, though this one reminded him of a cat. He chuckled inwardly at the thought. _'Heh. Neko no Jyuuken' _ Actually, it was nothing to joke about. Hinata's new taijutsu, though rough, was kick-butt.

Seeing their fallen comrades, the ANBU girl and SG stood up, preparing to fight. Neji had recovered briefly from his state of shock, only to be sent back into it when he saw the level Naruto and Hinata were fighting at. Naruto, he could understand. He wasn't called the most surprising ninja for nothing. But Hinata?

Seeing that they now had two new enemies, Naruto and Hinata turned around, only to tense when they saw that one of them was an ANBU. This couldn't be good...

* * *

**Aren't I mean? Don't worry. The cliffie isn't going to last for long. This story is begging me to write it, and this particular fight keeps replaying itself in my head.**

**Hakkeshou: Rokujuu Yonshou -Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palmsblocks off tenketsu points**

**Neko no Jyuuken- Cat Gentle Fist Hinata's new taijutsu. yes Naruto's random thought was foreshadowing**

**Satsubatsu according to the translation site I use, something like bloodthirsy,brutal, savage, that kinda stuff. Batty is a nickname for him**


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry to dissappoint you all, but there I'm going to skim over the actual fight. There isn't really that much fighting anyways. Sorry for any ooc-ness, and if the ANBU isn't very ANBU-ish.**

**I'm not going to have Kyuubi come out, but he is going to play a role this chapter.**

**I'm not actually going to have many charcters desert Konoha, only Neji and the two currently conscious Hyuuga. Alot of them are going to remove themselves from Konoha by going on long term and long distance missions**

* * *

(in a hospital ward) 

"Huh? What happened?" A groggy Ino asked, having just woken up.

Seeing that her patient was awake, Tsunade motioned Inochi, Ino's dad, over, and said, "That's what we'd like to know. You were sent on a mission to retrieve Naruto and Hinata after they left, but when you tried to use your **Shintenshin no jutsu **on Naruto you were thrown back into your body. We want to know what happened."

Ino seemed to have barely heard her, and instead of replying, asked, "Hey, dad, is it true that the Kyuubi no Kitsune is sealed into Naruto? Please tell the truth."

Inochi was shocked that his daughter had found out. He looked at Tsunade to confirm if he was allowed to tell her, and she just nodded. "Yes. Though he isn't the demon itself. They are separate beings."

"I know. I was just trying to confirm whether or not I was imagining things." Ino said, still in a slight daze.

"What do you mean by that?" Tsunade asked, confused.

"Naruto's mind was way different than normal. It was like a cross between a maze and a sewer, instead of organic like most minds. Also, there was this huge cage in this weird room there. The Kyuubi was within that cage. Naruto was the one who told me who the demon was. Before you ask, I have no clue how Naruto was still able to move around in his mind. I'm certain that I felt my **Shintenshin no jutsu **move _something _aside, but I'm not sure what." Ino replied.

"This is... surprising. Oh, and Ino, you can leave at any time now that you've awoken. The only reason why you were here was because of the fact that you had been knocked unconscious so mysteriously." Tsunade told her.

"Thank you, Tsunade-sama." Ino said to the Hokage of Konoha.

"Ino, I assume you understand that you absolutely cannot tell anyone about Kyuubi?" Her dad questioned her.

Ino hastily replied, "Of course father."

After Tsunade gave her a routine check-up to make sure that Ino was in full health, the blond kunoichi exited the hospital building, and went to find her super-smart teammate.

Seeing the lazy chunin laying on a hillside watching clouds, Ino called out to him, "Hey! Shikamaru!"

"Tch. This is so troublesome. What is it, Ino?"

"Any idea why Naruto left?" Ino asked, trying to find out if her genius teammate had already figured out about Naruto's little secret.

"Probably something to do with the way people were treating him," Shikamaru said, shrugging.

"Maybe he has some weird bloodline that people don't think kindly of, and that's why," Ino said, trying to get a response from the cloud gazer.

"Wouldn't be surprised. With his tendency to pull power out of nowhere and the cold and angry stares that villagers and ninja alike give him, I'd be more shocked if he was completely normal."

'_Heh. Yeah right. Like you'd ever be 'shocked' about something. You'd just shrug and go back to watching clouds.' _Ino thought. "Wouldn't it be weird if he was, hypothetically speaking, one of those 'demon containers'? That wouldn't be something you'd expect from someone like him."

"That'd actually make more sense than a bloodline. It would also coincide with some random comments that I've heard from him and others," Shikamaru yawned, obviously bored.

"If, lets say, he was the container for, I don't know, maybe the Kyuubi no Kitsune? What would you think then?"

"I've thought of that as a slight possibility ever since the chunin exams, and that thought was reinforced when I saw how quickly he recovered from the Sasuke rescue mission. Are you saying that you've managed to prove or disprove this theory?"

"Nothing gets past you, does it? He definitely has the Kyuubi sealed within him. I saw it myself, and dad confirmed it for me."

"Man, this is so troublesome. What are you planning on doing?" Shikamaru still sounded bored out of his mind, and slightly annoyed at Ino for disturbing his cloud watching.

"I don't know. I don't feel comfortable being in Konoha now that I know even half of the story, but I don't want to desert. Also, I curious about a lot of thins that I experienced while in Naruto's mind. I want to find out why Jinchuuriki are so mentally different from everybody else, and that kind of information would either be found in Konoha itself or in a nation that would return a missing-nin from Konoha without question. I don't know what to do anymore." Ino's shoulders had slumped during her small speech, and Shikamaru could tell that her morals and natural curiosity were colliding.

"Heh, if being a missing-nin wouldn't be so troublesome, I would consider leaving myself. Instead, I think I'm just going to ask to be sent to some allied nation or another for some random reason, like Suna maybe. You could do something similar. I've heard of a group of neurology and psychology experts that are completely neutral in just about everything, and would be a great resource for that kind of research. You could probably get away with asking for a research mission with the specific goal of finding out more about the mental issues surrounding Jinchuuriki, and how the different bijuu effect them," Shikamaru suggested, evidently having actually given the problem some thought.

"Thanks Shikamaru-kun! I'll be sure to do that!" Ino cheered, having lightened up. Her three main concerns, all solved in one move! Typical Shikamaru.

"Your welcome."

* * *

(Tsunade's office)

Ino took a deep breath, trying to figure out how to word what she wanted to say. "Hokage-sama, I've noticed that, for some reason or another, the minds of Jinchuuriki tend to be way different from everyone else, and different in ways that can't easily be explained by just simply different experiences than the rest of humanity. I was wondering if I could travel to the Heaven Country on a research mission in order to find out the reason behind this. I think that knowing this information would benefit us, since the bijuu and their containers are increasing in number and relevancy. We would be more able to understand why some Jinchuuriki succeed while others fail, and also what effects certain demons have on their vessels." Ino was proud of herself. She was certain that she was going to get the mission now!

"Makes sense. Also you probably are curious about this yourself, having known a Jinchuuriki and experienced first-hand how unusual their mentality can be when compared to others," Tsunade said, nodding, "Very well. Yamanaka Ino, I assign you the C-ranked mission of finding out as much as you can about the mental status of Jinchuuriki and the reason behind it. Your teammates are Asuma, Aburame Shino, and Amakichi Choji. Dismissed."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," Ino said, before exiting via the window. Being Hokage, though, Tsunade job wasn't done yet. She still needed to have a mission conference with Nara Shikamaru. She found it a bit odd that two of the people on the team sent to retrieve Naruto and Hinata had filed requests for missions specifically outside the borders of Konoha. It probably had something to do with the fact that they were uncomfortable around the reason that their friend had left. Ino and Shikamaru would be especially concerned about this. Tsunade knew that Ino knew about Kyuubi, and that Shikamaru had probably figured at least part of the puzzle out.

Tsunade sighed. All of this was giving her a headache. "Send Nara Shikamaru in," she called out to the ANBU on guard.

"Right away, Tsunade-sama," was the ANBU's prompt reply.

About a minute later, the door to the Hokage's office opened as Nara Shikamaru stepped in. "Shikamaru, what was it that you wanted to see me about?" Tsunade questioned the newly appointed chunin.

"I'm aware that the need for ambassadors in foreign countries has risen in recent times, and I was wondering if I could have one of those posts."

"This is... unlike you. Normally you'd just try to get the easiest mission possible," Tsunade commented, watching the cloud gazer, in order to see what his response would be. He just shrugged. "We do have a position open in Suna. Would you mind that?"

"Not at all."

"Okay. I will send a messenger bird to the ambassador's building in Suna. Here's your mission parameters, including political standings and the location of various important buildings in Suna," she said, handing the lazy Nara a folder. Shikamaru was starting to doubt the sanity of his decision, but decided it would be even more troublesome to stay here in the leaf with his conscious nagging at him. Anyways, that girl Temari was supposedly good at strategy. Maybe he could get her to play a game of Shoji with him. That is, if she wasn't to busy being her usual troublesome self.

Shikamaru sighed as he exited Tsunade's office, this time using the door for what it was meant for. He really couldn't figure out why everything that had anything to do with Naruto was so damn troublesome.

* * *

(somewhere in the forest) 

'_Great. Just frecking great. Why does everything have do be so hard?' _Naruto grumbled to himself, ticked off at the fact that the fight was still going on. He could've beaten the chunin on his own, and if he got angry, maybe the ANBU, but Hinata was out of breath, and would have a hard time fighting. He was currently in a hell of a lot'ta trouble.

"Why do we need to fight? Hinata and I just wanna go on our way, and I'm sure you do to. So let's call a truce. How does that sound?" Naruto asked their two enemies.

"Tempting, but sadly we can't. As long as the cage bird seal binds us to the main house, we must do exactly as they tell us to, on pain of death," the ANBU replied, a hint of regret in her voice.

'_Damn,' _Naruto cursed. It would be hard to get out of this predicament.

'**_To bad there aren't any age-old beings around who might know a way to get around this problem,' _**Kyuubi said nonchalantly.

'_You know something, don't you?' _Naruto questioned the centuries old demon.

_**'I just might know a way to remove the cage bird seal, though I doubt that a pathetic weakling of a pitiful species would be able to use it.'**_

'_What exactly would it take to help you remember this counter seal?' _Naruto asked, having immediately caught on to the demon fox's plan.

'**_Let me inhabit a _Gizensha Bunshin _on the nights of the new moon. I promise not to kill or harm anyone, and not to permanently damage anyone's property,' _**Kyuubi said.

'_I don't know. Bawa, what do you think?'_ Naruto asked his alter ego.

'_Well, I don't think that he could do much harm if we only give him a fraction of his power. Also it couldn't hurt sense he promised to do anything to harm anyone.' _Bawa reasoned, sounding uncertain.

'_Yeah, you're right. Alright, Kyuubi. We have a deal. As long as you don't go back on any part of your side, I won't go back on mine.' _Naruto thought to the kitsune.

_**'Deal. Now, here's what you have to do...'**_

Back in the real world, the ANBU and her comrade had attacked the two genin, and met with varying levels of success. Since Naruto was paying a bit of attention to the conversation going on in his head, the ANBU had him on the defensive, even though she was just trying to test out his capabilities. Hinata's opponent really didn't want to hurt her, and Hinata felt the same, so the fight wasn't on that high of a level.

Neji had recovered from his shock, and was getting up to join the fight when he heard Naruto call out to everyone in the general vicinity, "You know how you said earlier that as long as you had the cage bird seal on you you'd have to do what the main house said? What would you say if I said that I know how to remove the seal?" This was officially the most shocking day of Neji's life. It would be really hard to surprise him much more now. He sank back onto the branch, not trusting his legs to keep him up.

"How the hell do you know how to do that?" SG asked, surprise evident in her voice.

"Kyuubi's constantly grumbling about how it's just his luck that the only seal he doesn't know how to remove is the one he got stuck behind, and I've managed to blackmail the information out of him," Naruto replied.

"You blackmailed Kyuubi?" The ANBU asked, clearly amused. "Yeah. It's amazing how easy it is to blackmail an ego-centric, overly vain demon fox!" Naruto exclaimed, causing the ANBU to chuckle. It was nice having her old enemy brought down a few notches by his own vessel.

'**_Stupid brat. As soon as I get out of here, you're are going to die the most painful death I can imagine.' _**Kyuubi snarled at his host. Naruto just mentally humored him, making the gargantuan kitsune even angrier.

"It's hard to believe that you would actually know and be able to perform a jutsu to remove the cage bird seal, but you are a Jinchuuriki," the ANBU reasoned, unable to just ignore her inner turmoil over this opportunity. She, like most branch members, felt at the least a little hatred for the main branch, and she was also new to the post of ANBU, having only recently been promoted. If it wasn't for the invasion and the need for as many ANBU and jounin as possible, she more than likely wouldn't have gotten the job for a while.

"I wouldn't mind being the first one you used this jutsu on," Neji announced, getting back up.

"Okay. Do you other two trust me enough to let me use the unseal on him?" Naruto asked the two offensive Hyuugas.

"It's his choice whether to trust you or not. We're not going to stand in his way," SG said. If she wanted to be professional, neither she nor the ANBU should've trusted Naruto, but both of them were sincerely hoping that what he said was true. If he could provide them with their freedom, it would be a dream come true.

"Okay. Hold on a sec," Naruto told them, jumping down to the ground, where he started drawing seals and signs. He needed to get this right, in order to gain their trust. He was relieved that they were willing to give him a chance, though the temptation of freedom was probably a big drive behind that. He finished the seals a few minutes later. Even the ANBU, who had dedicated her life to the study of seals, only recognized a few of the ones he used. Most were in some ancient language, which she was certain Kyuubi has supplied him with.

"All done. Neji, could you sit right here?" Naruto asked, pointing to a complex area right in the middle of the seal. There was a circle right in the center. "In the circle, please. Try not to step on any of the drawings."

Neji was still doubtful about the likelihood of this succeeding, but complied anyways. He trusted Naruto, and he really wanted the seal removed. He calmly walked over to a group of branches above the area that Naruto had pointed to, and jumped down, landing right in the middle of the seal.

"Good. Hey, Hinata, could you go sit over there?" Naruto asked. Neji noticed that the seal was oblong in shape, like an oval, and that at each end there was a triangle pointing out. Naruto had indicated the triangle opposite him as where Hinata needed to sit. "Someone with the ability to activate the seal is apparently also necessary for its removal."

"Hai, N-Naruto-kun," Hinata said, complying with his request, and sitting down in the triangle.

"Just put your hands on the two kanji in front of you, your left hand on the one for 'free', your right on the one for 'fly'," Naruto instructed her, settling down in the other triangle. There were also two kanji in front of him. On the left was 'servitude', and the on was right 'cage'. Hinata did as he said. The two Hyuuga that weren't involved in the process looked on with interest. "When I say, 'Let the bird once caged fly free of all iron bonds', I need you to say, 'As I will it, so mote it be'. Okay?" Hinata nodded, not really understanding his instructions.

Naruto started chanting a language that had been forgotten by all but a few, while speeding through several hand signs that none present recognized, before using a kunai to cut both of his thumbs, and then using the blood to slash through the two kanji in front, of him, causing the seal to start glowing. Chakra crackled around him. He then chanted, "Let the bird once caged fly free of all iron bonds." It had sounded silly when he said it earlier, but now it seemed to hold much more weight, and the seal started changing colors, switching randomly between all the different colors of the spectrum.

Hearing the signal, Hinata chanted, "As I will it, so mote it be" just as Naruto had told her too. The seal suddenly flashed a brilliant lavender, before fading. When her eyesight had recovered, Hinata looked over to see that Neji's forehead was completely bare of all decoration. "N-Neji-niisan, y-your seal!" she exclaimed.

"It's gone!" the ANBU gasped, surprised and happy that Naruto's jutsu had worked as promised.

"Congratulations, Neji. You are now free of any bonds that the curse seal ever held you to," Naruto said, grinning.

"Is it really gone?" Neji asked, his hand flying to his forehead. He was unable to believe that such good fortune could be his.

"Here. See for yourself," SG said, tossing him a mirror. Neji looked at his unbranded forehead, gasped, and then proceeded to faint from shock and disbelief.

"That was... unusual," Naruto commented, trying really hard not to laugh. It was an uphill battle. Kyuubi wasn't even tying to hold in his laughter, and was cracking up in Naruto's mind. Seeing the cold Hyuuga so shocked he fainted was something that Naruto had never thought he'd see.

"N-Neji-niisan j-just fainted! It's a sign of the apocalypse!" Hinata exclaimed, seeing the irony in it. She was overjoyed that she'd been able to help her cousin so much, and it showed. Her confidence had also been boosted when she's been told that she was needed for the removal of the seal. The only other ones with the ability to help in this would never even dream of helping the branch members to 'rise above their place'. Her comment caused everyone in the area to start laughing, even SG, who was concerned about her cousin's son.

"Hahaha. Good one, Hinata. Who wants to go next?" Naruto asked the two conscious branch members.

"Me!" surprisingly enough, it was the ANBU who'd volunteered. She hadn't had the emotion training yet, and even if she had, Konoha shinobi weren't trained to be heartless killers nearly to the extent that other village's shinobi were.

"Step right up! I just need to rewrite a few seals, and it'll be ready." After saying this, Naruto got to work rewriting the two kanji in front of his position, and changing a few of the ones surrounding the inner circle. Having finished, he started to original process over again. The ANBU was pleasantly surprised when she saw the curse seal gone, but she managed not to faint, and instead started cheering and prancing around. She apparently sometimes acted younger than the no more than 18 years old she looked.

Naruto and Hinata afterwards repeated the process with SG, who smiled and thanked them quite a few times before finally shutting up. After the two had calmed down, Naruto remembered something.

"Hey, I think I forgot to ask what you two's names are," Naruto said.

The ANBU quickly bowed to him and said, "Forgive me my manners. My name is Koodori and my comrade is Kea."

"Okay. Koodori, Kea, just wondering, but what are you two going to do now? I don't think that you can return to Konoha now." Naruto asked them.

"It's okay. When I was in Konoha I was hesitant to marry because I didn't want my children to share the same fate I have, but now I can go and live with my fiancé and his family without worrying about that," Kea said, smiling.

"Do you guys mind if I tag along with you? I've got nowhere to go, and I have always enjoyed traveling," Koodori said.

"It's fine b-by me," Hinata merrily said, happy that she would have a female traveling companion to talk with. She loved traveling with Naruto, but it would be nice all the same.

"Same here," Naruto chirruped, still grinning. "Hey, I think Neji's waking up."

"Huh? What happened?" Neji asked.

"Well, for starters you got your curse seal removed," Naruto said. Neji gasped, remembering what had happened before he fainted. "Don't faint again. We need to ask you something."

Neji hmphed and asked, "What?"

"What're you planning on doing now? You can't exactly go back to Konoha," Naruto pointed out.

"Really not sure. I don't have anywhere to go," Neji stated, having recollected himself.

"N-Neji-niisan, if you want, y-you can come w-with me, N-Naruto-kun, and Koodori," Hinata quietly offered.

"If that's ok with the rest of you, I don't think I'd mind. I guess Kea is going to join her fiance?" Neji asked.

"Yup," Kea said.

"I don't mind if you tag along," Koodori told him.

"You can come, Neji, but no whining, ya hear?" Naruto was as boisterous as ever.

"Arigatou," Neji arrogantly said.

"Hey, what are we going to do with the other two?" Kea asked.

"Set them down on the ground. When the unconscious one wakes up he can carry his brother's body back to Konoha for a proper burial," Naruto told them. The others nodded.

After taking care of the one dead Hyuuga and the one unconscious Hyuuga, Koodori asked, "Now that that's all dealt with, where to next?"

"Hinata and I were planning on heading out to Wave Country," Naruto said.

Koodori and Neji nodded. After picking up their dropped supplies, the four Hyuugas and one Uzumaki headed on towards the nearest town. Kea had told them that, coincidently enough, Wave Country was where her fiance lived, so she decided to travel along with them. It would take them about another two days before they finally reached their destination.

* * *

**Shintenshin no Jutsu - mind control technique it does what the name suggests. it allows Ino to temporarily replace the target's mind with her own**

**Gizensha Bunshin no Jutsu - Fox in a Lambs Clothing Clone Technique Naruto uses this to temporarily transfer his variuos inner minds out into the real world. takes on the characteristics of whomever's mind he tranfers**

**Koodori - means something like jumping or dancing for joy**

**Kea - means something along the lines of care**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hi everyone! Sorry for the late update! I had to go away for a bit for spring break to somewhere with almost no computer acess, and, if that wasn't bad enough, the worst internet connection ever! I'm ranting now, aren't I? Anyways...**

**Reviews:**

**UseYourImagination: I try to update at the least once a week. sometimes if I'm in a creative mood I might update twice a week, and also updates can take longer if I'm away from my computer ofr a while(i.e. it crashes or I go on vacation)**

**To everyone else: thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!!! you are all awesome! ty for the support and for the suggestions!**

**Please review. Critisism is welcome. If you see anything whatsoever wrong, please notify me. if you don't like a particular pairing, instead of just complaining, it would be apreciated if you could suggest a different one. if anyone has any ideas at all for the story, please tell me. ty!**

**Key:**

**_'blah' -_ demonic mind speak**

**"blah" - demonic speak**

_'blah' **- **_**mindspeak/think**

**blah - jutsu name**

"blah"** - words in a language other than the one most characters speak**

blah** - words in a letter**

"blah" **- regualar speech**

_blah _**- emphacise**

* * *

(team Gai's training ground)

"Gai-sensei! Is it true what the villagers have been saying about Naruto?" Tenten asked her eccentric teacher. "Is he really the Kyuubi?"

Gai wasn't too happy about the fact that after Naruto had left, the villagers had decided that the law that the Sandaime made was null and void, and started telling the younger generation about it. It wouldn't have been as bad if they'd specified that he was the Kyuubi's host, but instead they just said that he was the Kyuubi itself.

"No Tenten! Naruto is the person that holds the Kyuubi back from the world, not the Kyuubi itself!" Gai explained loudly.

"Yosh! Naruto's flames of youth burn brightly! He will not let the Kyuubi bring harm to anyone!" Lee cheered.

Tenten, seeing where this was heading, interrupted before they could start on their usual tirade. "What about Neji? I heard that he also left Konoha!" She was really worried about her white-eyed teammate. She secretly had a crush on him but hoped no one had noticed.

"I'm sure that our teammate has only gone for a little while in order to stoke his flames of youth! He will be back soon!" Lee cheered, as enthusiastic as ever. He and Gai then started up their usual tirade, despite Tenten's best efforts.

After having annoyed Tenten to no end, Gai finally got around to a topic that he'd been hoping to bring up. "Lee! Tenten! I have had a wondrous idea! We are going on a training trip to learn about different kinds of taijutsu and weapon fighting!" He wasn't too comfortable around people who were accusing Naruto openly of being a monster, and he'd seen Lee snap at the least a few people for suggesting that his friend Naruto was a demon hell-bent on destroying them all. Tenten probably would react very badly when people started to talk about Neji's desertion.

Tenten nodded. This sounded real interesting. She rarely got exposure to different styles of weapons and so this would be a golden opportunity, Neji or no Neji. "While we're traveling, can we keep an eye out for Neji?" she asked. It couldn't hurt to look around for him, after all.

Lee and Gai had started back in on their cheerful cheering, and upon hearing her request, Gai enthusiastically agreed. Tenten then got up to go tell her family about the training trip and to get away from the two taijutsu specialists.

* * *

(Hokage's Office) 

"You may enter, Gai," Tsunade said. She knew that this was probably a request for an outside of Konoha mission.

"Hai, Hokage-sama. I was wondering if I could take Mumei Tenten and Lee on a training trip to improve their skills?" Gai asked. For once he wasn't cheering.

"Alright, go ahead," sighed Tsunade. She mentally braced herself for Gai's explosion.

"Yosh! Thank you Hokage-sama! Your flames of youth shine brightly!" Tsunade couldn't help but find a bit of irony in his last comment.

* * *

(road out of Konoha) 

"Alright team, let's get going!" Asuma declared. He still had most of his original team, except Shino had replaced Shikamaru. They would be going slow for Choji's sake, since he was still recovering. Shino's non-runaway teammate, Kiba, would be joining a team from last year that had lost their teammate on a mission. The dog-orientated ninja wasn't too happy about this, since one of his new teammates dealt with cats and therefore had a cat familiar.

The newly formed Team Asuma stared walking along the rod, headed towards Heaven Country. After they had been walking only for a few hours, Choji declared that he was exhausted, and needed a break. Luckily, Asuma had planned on this, and they had set out around lunchtime. Now night was approaching and they were at a town where they could stop for the night. No one complained, seeing as how none of them particularly wanted to be traveling at night with all the demon, missing-nin, and bandit activity that had been going on lately.

They went to an inn, and Asuma paid for two rooms: one for Ino, and the other for the three boys. The genin and jounin then went out for dinner, before finally trudging up to their various rooms. When they arrived they collapsed on their beds, fast asleep.

* * *

(gates of Suna) 

"Meh, this is so troublesome," Shikamaru groaned. He was currently right inside Suna, and had no clue where to go.

"If it was so troublesome, then why did you come?" Temari asked, appearing right beside the lazy shadow manipulator.

Shikamaru sighed, and then explained, "It was even more troublesome to stay in Konoha with my conscious nagging me."

Temari nodded. She'd heard that Naruto had deserted from Konoha. She was actually surprised at how well Gaara was taking it. She knew that he now considered the blonde almost as a role model.

"You're looking for the ambassador building, aren't you? It's right this way," Temari told him. Shikamaru nodded and followed her.

* * *

(Entrance to the Great Naruto Bridge) 

"Well, here we are! Wave Country!" Naruto exclaimed. His traveling companions looked at the name of the bridge, looked away, did a double take, and looked again.

"You have a bridge named after you?" Neji asked, a little bit shocked.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. Me and my team kinda helped them out a lot when we got assigned a mission to guard the bridge builder, Tazuna."

"I heard about that. That was the C-rank mission that, mid-mission, was raised to an A-rank, wasn't it? You were on that?" the ANBU asked, surprised.

"Yup." Hinata, Kea, and Neji were really surprised. He'd been on an A-rank mission? Koodori just assumed that Kakashi had done most of the work. Also, she, along with the rest of the jounin, had been told that Naruto had started to be able to access his Jinchuuriki abilities, and Sasuke had activated his Sharingan, supposedly on that mission. That probably played a big role in their success. "We got lucky, though. I was able to tap into Kyuubi's chakra on accident, and Sasuke activated his Sharingan. Also I kinda became friends with the guy who Sasuke and I were fighting before the big battle," he explained sheepishly. Typical Naruto.

"Only you could befriend an enemy when he knew who you were," Neji said.

Hinata and Kea nodded. Hinata had known Naruto for a while, and had had plenty of time to see his persuasive powers at work. Kea had only seen a bit of his special magic, but she was already convinced.

The Hyuugas and Naruto started walking along the bridge. When they got to the end, they met up with another surprise. Right at the end was a statue with a plaque that said, 'To the Heroes of Wave Country'. It was beautifully carved and depicted a scene of Team Seven in their 'glory' days. Kakashi was standing at the back, leaning up against a rock wall, his book in hand. Naruto snickered at that. Sakura was sitting to his right, legs dangling over the side. She was twirling a kunai and winking at the observer. Sasuke was to the left of Kakashi, Sharingan activated, arms crossed, brooding. Naruto was smack dab in the middle, leaning against Zabuza's gargantuan sword. Haku's mask seemed to hang from the hilt. Naruto himself was the shocking part. His eyes were slits, and his canines were elongated more than usual. His claws were about half an inch long, and his whisker marks had thickened and lengthened until the outside edges touches and the inside edges were only a fraction of an inch away from touching. They looked like black triangles tattooed onto his face. He was grinning ferally, and his posture was that of a predator lazily waiting for the prey to wander within range. Despite the fact that Naruto was the only one who had seen his transformation and lived to tell about it, the artist had done a pretty good job from Naruto's description. He had little holes poked in his clothes, and various gashes, but no damage was shown on his skin. There were senbon needles lying in piles around him, many carved to look like they were coated in blood. The group looked closer and discovered that Sasuke had carved senbon needles stuck into him all over, some in fatal looking places. There was also a small dog sitting at Kakashi's feet. Naruto was able to identify him as Pakkun.

"Wow," was all anyone could say. Naruto looked a bit scary in his demon form.

"Impressive, huh?" a voice asked.

Naruto turned towards it, and then exclaimed, "Tazuna! Who built this? It's amazing artwork!"

"Our local stone mason. You're not the first to think that that statue is amazing. It has increased his sales tenfold," Tazuna said. "Why are you guys here, anyways? Do you need a place to stay? My mansion has plenty of room."

"Kea's come to live with her fiancée, so she's taken care of. Neji, Hinata, and Koodori are here on Hyuuga business. I came along because they needed one more teammate and I wanted to visit you guys again," Naruto answered, fibbing a bit. "We could really use a place to stay, if you wouldn't mind. You live in a mansion now?"

"Yup. Right this way then," Tazuna said. The Hokage had actually contacted him in case Naruto decided to come there, but he didn't plan on telling on them. They must have had a good reason to leave, especially Naruto. He'd make sure to ask him about that.

"Bye guys! See ya 'round!" Kea called out, running off to find her fiancée's house.

"See ya!" Hinata answered, actually managing to raise her voice a fraction above speaking level. She and Kea had become close friends, and recently Hinata's confidence had been going up, though it was a slow process.

"Alright then, this way," Tazuna said, leading the four to his house. When they got there, Naruto was shocked at the size.

"You live here?!?" he exclaimed. The three Hyuugas were used to seeing mansions this size, but Naruto had spent his whole life living either on the street or in a small apartment.

"Naruto-niisan!" Inari yelled, rushing out of the huge house.

"Hey, Inari!" Naruto called. Tsunami, hearing the ruckus, exited the house, and smiled when she saw Naruto. Neither she nor Inari had been told about Naruto's brand new status as a missing-nin. Tazuna was the only one in Wave Country who knew.

"Look who's here," she said, "You four must be exhausted if you traveled all this way. Come right on in."

"Thanks Tsunami!" Naruto shouted to her.

"Arigato, Tsunami-san," Hinata and Koodori said, walking over to where she was standing. Neji tagged along after them.

"No problem. We're happy to host Naruto and his friends. By the way, why are you guys here?" she asked.

"Hyuuga business. I came along because they needed another teammate, and I wanted to see you guys again," Naruto fibbed again.

Tsunami nodded, accepting his explanation. She then turned and walked into the house. The three Hyuugas, Inari, Tazuna, and Naruto followed.

The main hall of the house was huge! It was two stories high and there was a modest chandelier hanging from the ceiling. Naruto, having never seen a chandelier, or a two-story room for that matter, was impressed nonetheless. There was a railing on the second story, showing a balcony area in front of a room, likely either Tsunami's or Tazuna's. There were large double doors directly in front of them and medium double doors to either side. In a corner was a spiral staircase leading up to the two upper levels. There were stone carvings placed sparsely around the room, done with the same skill as the statue earlier. The banisters and such were beautifully carven wood, painted bright, cheery colors. "The kitchen's right through that door up ahead. The door on the right leads to the dinning room, and behind it the living room. On the left there's a large bathroom. Right behind the bathroom is the laundry room, though you can only access that from the kitchen. The room behind the balcony is mine, while the room right next to the staircase on the second story is father's. Inari's room is just past mine. On the third story are a small library and two guest rooms. There are master baths connected to me and father's rooms, and medium sized bathrooms connected to the rest of the bedrooms," Tsunami explained. "You four can sort out among yourselves who gets which room."

"Uh huh," Naruto said, mouth agape. He really couldn't believe the size of this place! He also didn't mind sharing a room with Neji. If all of this as anything to go by, their room would be the size of his old apartment! "Wow, this place is big! My apartment could fit several times over in this room alone!" he exclaimed. Neji, Hinata, and Koodori weren't nearly as impressed as Naruto was. Even the branch house's mansion was quite larger than this place.

Suddenly, all four's stomachs growled in sync. Tsunami laughed and walked over to the kitchen, calling over her shoulder that dinner would be ready soon. The four nodded and walked up the stairs, intent on checking out their new rooms. When they got there, Naruto got a huge surprise. Their bathrooms were as large as his old bedroom, if not larger. The tiles of the bathrooms were arranged in mosaics, picked out in bright colors. Each bathroom had a jacuzzi tub and a walk in shower. The cabinets, the sink, and the tub itself were made out of marble. The bedrooms were, as Naruto had predicted, as big as his old apartment. Each had two beds in it, both at the least twice as wide as Naruto's old bed and slightly longer. In addition to that, when Naruto jumped on one, he found out that it was light and fluffy, and very comfortable. His old mattress had actually been harder than the tree branches that Naruto tended to opt to sleep in. There was a nightstand next to each bed, with a fancy lamp and clock on each.

Each bedspread was different. Naruto chose one with foxes depicted chasing each other all over the quilt, many hiding in various clever places. The background of the quilt consisted of a lake on the bottom, a forest in the middle, and at the top was a depiction of a starry night sky. Neji's had birds flying around all over it, many carrying ribbons and such, making for quite a pretty picture. Hinata's was a patchwork quilt showing cats of all shapes and sizes, some playing, some grooming themselves or others, some sleeping, some running, and some just sitting there. Koodori's showed butterflies flitting about. They were of all different shapes and sizes, and were very pretty.

There were many decorations in the rooms, from little statues of the animals on the quilts, to portraits of different natural scenes. There were two wardrobes in each room, one across from each bed. They had the animals that corresponded with that bed carved all along them. They were of some rich, dark brown wood. There were shelves and drawers and hooks inside for keeping things. Naruto was, once again, amazed at the size and fanciness of everything. Hinata was also impressed at the decorative aspect of it all. She wasn't allowed to have many personal touches in her room, and therefore her room was extremely plain.

After having claimed their separate beds, the four went over to the library, interested in its contents. Like everything else in this fine home, Naruto was amazed by the grandeur! It was larger than both guest rooms combined, and even had a staircase leading up into an attic type space that was dominated by even more books and scrolls! All sorts of subjects were covered here, and Naruto immediately made a beeline for a set of scrolls on inventing your own jutsus and the different ways to go about this. Hinata headed for a book on human autonomy and how various outside influences affected humans. Neji picked up a large scroll that covered how different taijutsu had different effects in relation to each other and which were best to use against which. Koodori's eye was caught by a fantasy novel in the attic.

They settled down in some of the comfy chairs placed around the library and started reading. Each small group of chairs had one or two small tables next to it, each with a lamp on it.

They had been reading for about half an hour when Inari opened one of the library doors and called out to the inhabitants, "Dinner's ready!" The four booked marked their books/scrolls and followed Inari to the dinning room.

"Could any of you help me with the food?" Tsunami asked. Naruto, Hinata, and Koodori all volunteered. They all went with Tsunami into the kitchen and helped her bring out plates, food, and beverages to the others. When the table was set and dinner was served, everyone sat down and started eating. There was talk about recent events in both Konoha and Wave, though no one mentioned Naruto and the other's defection.

When they had all finished eating both dinner and desert, which had been ice cream, everyone excused themselves and exited. Tazuna walked over to Naruto just as he was about to leave and motioned for him to stay behind. Naruto complied.

When he was sure that no one was listening in, Tazuna said, "I know that you four aren't really here on 'Hyuuga business', Naruto. Hokage-sama sent me a notice that you had defected from Konoha and might come here. Don't worry, I'm not going to tell anyone from Konoha that you're here but I would like to know why you left."

"You know about that special power I used on the bridge? People treat me unkindly because of it and I just couldn't take it anymore, so I left. Hinata left because her father's mean to her, since she's the heiress. Neji and Koodori left because they didn't enjoy being mistreated by the main ranch like they were," Naruto explained. Tazuna nodded.

"You four can stay as long as you want here. Just be careful, though. Since Gatou's downfall we've been having some problems with gangs. Without a big boss to keep them in check, they're running around uncontrolled, at least until we can organize a police force."

"Man, the Wave has no end of problems, huh?" Naruto asked, amused.

"Seems like it," Tazuna agreed. He and Naruto then went their separate ways, both looking forward to a good night's sleep.

* * *

(the next morning) 

"-Yawn! - Wow, that bed's comfy!" Naruto exclaimed, stretching and yawning. He then got out of bed and trudged into the bathroom to brush his teeth. Having done so, he decided to take a shower. He then walked downstairs to discover that he'd been the last one awake. He grabbed some breakfast from the enormous kitchen and learned from Neji that Koodori and Tsunami had dragged Hinata out shopping for a new wardrobe. Inari had gone off to school and Tazuna was at work designing a new building. Neji himself was heading out to buy some clothes that didn't identify him as a Hyuuga. Naruto decided to head out and visit some old memories.

Naruto, as impatient as ever, ran to his destination rather than walking. He shortly arrived at a clearing in the woods with two simply marked graves in it. A large sword rested right behind one, and the other had a hunter-nin's mask slung over the wooden grave marker. _'I need to get these two proper tombstones.' _Naruto mentally noted. Bawa agreed.

Naruto walked over and knelt in front of the graves, speaking to the spirits of the deceased, "Hey Haku, Zabuza. I've come back. I'm a missing-nin now, just like you two. Fate has a really twisted sense of humor, huh? It's going to be pretty hard for me to become Hokage now. Now that I think about it, I find it ironic that my first real friend and the first person to acknowledge me as being someone to consider even a minor threat were both missing-nins and both my enemy. Funny, huh?" Naruto sat there for a while, thinking. He was uncharacteristically silent. Anyone who saw him would have immediately assumed that it was someone else. Yeah, sure, his eye and hair color was the same, and he had the same whisker marks but this Naruto was dressed in dark clothes and was quiet and thoughtful. He also wasn't wearing his headband or any sort of headgear, so his hair fell about his eyes, shadowing them, and looking longer than it normally did.

After Naruto had been contemplating for about thirty minutes, a small fox kit ran up, and started to prance around Zabuza's sword, jumping up on the blade and pawing at it. Naruto looked over at it and chuckled. The fox looked over at him then, and proceeded to run back and forth between Naruto and the sword, rebounding off of the huge blade every time she reached it. Naruto, understanding her message, walked over to the sword and put his hand on the hilt. "Is this what kit wanted Fox Lord to do, little sister?" he asked her. Kit was a common term among the foxes, used to refer to someone younger and of lower status than oneself. It could also be used as a term of endearment, directed at someone who was younger, but not necessarily of lower status.

"Wise Vixen said that the Moon Tribe told Wise Vixen that the big blade was to be wielded next by Fox Lord. Wise Vixen told Mica to tell Fox Lord about Moon Tribe's words," she explained. Naruto nodded.

"Thank you, Mica, for telling Fox Lord about Moon Tribe's decree," Naruto said. The little kit yipped and started prancing around.

"Mica is happy that Mica could be of service! Mica doesn't have any parents to help Mica start on Mica's discovery journey, so Mica has stayed in the nursery so far. Fox Lord's praise makes Mica happy!" Naruto emphasized with Mica about being an orphan. Foxes rarely stayed in the Tribe they were born in, and would instead, as soon as they came of age, set out on a 'discovery journey' to find a Tribe to belong to. Parents normally would provide the kit with animals to contact for help on the road, and would normally actually accompany the kit for a year or so. Orphans therefore had a much harder time since they had to do everything on their own.

Naruto drew the sword out of the ground. Moon Tribe was both the fox's and the kitsune's spirit leaders. Among animals and demons spirit leaders were the equivalent of human deities. They also could contact the after life. If Moon Tribe had told the foxes that the sword was to be wielded by the Fox Lord, and since the Moon Tribe was very honorable, that meant that they would've a) asked Zabuza before telling Naruto to use the sword, and b) Zabuza didn't mind him being its wielder.

"Hey, Mica, Fox Lord could use a traveling companion who is familiar with the ways of the foxes. Would Mica like to come with Fox Lord?" Naruto asked. The foxes' lack of pronouns could be a bit confusing, but it wasn't too hard to understand and speak, once you got the hang of it.

"Fox Lord means Fox Lord's words? Mica would be overjoyed to travel with Fox Lord! Mica will be able to find Mica's true Tribe much easier now! Mica thanks Fox Lord for Fox Lord's kindness!"

"Mica is welcome. And Fox Lord would like if Mica could call Fox Lord Naruto since Mica and Fox Lord are traveling together now," Naruto said to the hyper kit. She reminded him of himself in many ways.

"Mica is overjoyed to be able to call Naruto by Naruto's name! Will Naruto introduce Mica to Naruto's friends?" she asked.

"Yes, but Mica and Naruto will visit some other places first. Can Mica go and tell Wise Vixen about Naruto's decision?"

"Certainly! Mica will be right back!"

Naruto, seeing the little kit bound off, smiled and headed over to the clearing where he and Team 7 had trained. He stood for a few minutes, reminiscing, before a reminder from Kyuubi put him back into action. He looked at the sword, and thought, _'Well, I've got the sword. Now how do I use it?'_ It was quite a worthy question; one that neither Kyuubi nor Bawa could answer. Batty was being as broody and quiet as usual.

Naruto started examining the sword, a bit bored by now. He noticed something strange under the wrappings on the hilt. He carefully took the bandage like cloth off, revealing a seal of some sort. Curious, Naruto bit his thumb and slashed a bit of blood across the seal. Surprisingly, that did the trick.

The seal started glowing, and in a poof of smoke a small scroll tied with an orange ribbon appeared. Naruto grabbed it before it could fall to the ground. He untied the ribbon, and found out that the scroll was a letter of sorts.

To Whomever Was Able To Find This Scroll,

Congratulations on being a candidate for the next wielder of this Zanbato. Of course, it is necessary for you to pass the test before you can be considered this sword's wielder. The following riddle will provide you with your first clue. Hint: More than one language is found within.

Some will say do not mope,

But that is where you shall find the first clue.

The курс will lead you to the змейкаlair.

The 2 рыбы ноги will show you entrance,

But beware of red herrings.

изверги they are called,

Though do not be deceived by the color of their scales.

That is the riddle. We wish you luck in your journey.

Sincerely,

The First Seven Swords Men of the Mist.

'_... Uh, Kyuubi, any clue what this means?' _Naruto asked.

'**_I think the language is Russian. No, I don't speak Russian,' _**Kyuubi mind-spoke before either Naruto or Bawa could ask.

'_Well, ain't this just dandy!' _Bawa said sarcastically.

_**'Why don't we find a translator in the Wave? If that doesn't work, we can always look elsewhere,'**_ Batty suggested, actually being helpful for once. He had the same kitsune instincts as the other three, and was therefore intrigued by all of this. Plus, one could never get too powerful. 

Bawa faked shock at Batty's comment. _'Oh no! It's a sign of the apocalypse! Batty is actually being helpful for once!!!" _

'**_Hardy har har,' _**Batty replied.

'_Stop it you two. Batty's idea was, no matter how apocalyptic this may be, actually very good,' _Naruto interjected before the two could start a verbal battle. Batty settled into his trademark 'mess with me and you die' scowl.

"Naruto! Mica is back!" A cheerful yip interrupted them, pausing further argument and saving Kyuubi a major headache.

"Mica, look what Naruto found!" he announced, reading the scroll to her as best he could. He said the fox word for 'unknown' whenever there was a word in a foreign language. Mica agreed with him that it was strange. "Naruto is done now. Naruto thinks that Mica and Naruto should head to the human Clearing, and try to find a translator for the unknowns." A Clearing was a place where all the foxes in a Tribe gathered, much like a town, though foxes rarely actually lived in the Clearing.

"Mica agrees with Naruto. Mica likes the idea of a trip. Mica never gets to go into human Clearings farther than the edges. Dogs and cats and older foxes say that human Clearings are very interesting. Are the rumors that humans live in humans' Clearings true?"

"Yes, though strange, the rumors are true. Humans can be weird sometimes." Mica, Kyuubi, and Batty all voiced their agreement. Using some of Kyuubi's youkai to put the giant sword under a genjutsu and to change Naruto's features temporarily, they set off for the town, Mica riding comfortably on Naruto's shoulder. The sword was stashed in an old, abandoned warren.

* * *

**Japanese Translations:**

**Mumei: nameless/anonymous**

**Zanbato: a type of really big sword**

**Russian Translations:**

**mope: sea**

**курс: path**

**змейка: snake's**

**2 рыбы ноги: two leg fish**

**изверги: monsters**

**A cookie for anyone who can figure out where the riddle thinks Naruto should go!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi everyone! Here's chapter 7. The only thing importent that happens is Naruto finds a translator, but other than that this is mainly filler. They'll probably start going round the places next chapter.**

**Reviews:**

**To all of you who are wondering about Batty and Bawa: These two are basically alter egos that developed their own souls and chakra signatures. Kyuubi thinks that this was caused by a bloodline (which cioncidentaly allows Naruto better control of foreign youkai and chakra). Bawa is the physical representation of Naruto's 'mask'. Batty is like his dark side. In my mind I have Bawa clocked as having formed around the age of six or seven, and Batty shortly after Kyuubi was introduced. That clear things up?**

**About the whole riddle thing: at the least one person guesed some of the riddle! I won't tell you who, though. You'll have to wait for that.**

**Please review. Constructive critisism is aways welcome. If you don't like any aspect of the story, please tell me how I can fix it or at the least be polite about it. If you do notice anything wrong with either me getting charcter personality or canon facts from before the VotE fight, please alert me so that I can either purposfully ignore it insted of accidentaly ignoring it, or correct my mistake. Please no flaming about pairings without suggesting a different one(and no flaming about the main pairing). Also, could you guys tell me of any side pairings you'd like to see?**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

(within the town)

Koodori and Tsunami wandered around the shopping district of the town in Wave, dragging Hinata along with them.

Crash! They all spun around to where the loud sound had come from, searching the startled crowd. Hinata soon spotted the source of the disturbance and pointed it out to her comrades. There was a frail girl of about eight years being thrown out of a run-down store.

"Get out of here, demon! We don't need the likes of you around here!" he shouted at her. A crowd was beginning to form, and all three could see that they were on the edge of hurting her. There were several voices raised in agreement.

Tsunami bravely marched over to where the girl had collapsed and knelt down beside her. "Hello, dear. What are you doing out here all alone?" she asked. People glared at her for about half a minute before realizing that she was the daughter of the great bridge builder, Tazuna, and shuffled off.

The girl straightened and said proudly, "Tryin' ta get me some grub. People 'round 'ere ain't likin' me much, though." Then, as an afterthought, she added, "I'm an orphan, so I don't have no parents ta take care o' me."

Koodori and Hinata had arrived on the scene by now, and both nodded sympathetically. "Poor dear. Why don't you come home with me for now? We have room," Tsunami offered.

The girl was hesitant, though. "Don't know. Ya sure it ain't too much of a bother?"

"We'd be overjoyed to have another friend to talk to," Hinata said, trying to reassure the girl.

"Naw, your just sayin dat," the child replied sulkily.

Koodori sighed. "Well, first things first, you're going to have to learn how to speak properly," she said.

"No frickin' way in Hell am I goin' ta one o' dose school places, ya hear? I'm perfectly smartical enough!" she shouted, annoyed that they were thinking of sending her off to school. Imagine! There was nothing wrong whatsoever with her grammar, or, at least, that's the way she saw it.

Hinata smiled faintly. "Smartical? I don't believe that that's a word." The girl had the grace to look sheepish. "What's your name?"

"The name's Koneko!" she announced. "Don't have no surname, though."

"Well, we're pretty much done with shopping. Why don't we return to the mansion now to take care of Koneko?" Hinata asked, trying to get out of this embarrassing shopping trip as politely as possible.

Koodori rolled her eyes, knowing what Hinata was trying to pull. "Yeah, and it's getting kinda late. We'll have to finish tomorrow. Maybe we can get Koneko some clothes, too."

Koneko nodded, and gracefully got up off the pavement. "You guys live in a mansion?!?" she asked, astounded. These rich people wanted to take her in?

"It's only a small one," Tsunami said. Koneko didn't give half a damn how big of a mansion it was, a mansion's a mansion! It would definitely be bigger than the space under the Great Naruto Bridge that she shared with countless other homeless people.

Without another word the four started off back home, Koneko trailing cautiously behind. _'They're different from tha others. They're nicer. Ya think we can trust 'em?'_

'**_I smell no hate or anger in their scents. The aura of the black eyed older woman is pure, untainted by lies and decite. The other two's aura's have the taint that comes naturally with being a ninja, though the older white eye's is more tainted than the younger. Both ninja are pure of heart, though, and the girl has one of the kindest souls I've ever seen,' _**the voice in her head answered.

'_Thanks Noraneko. How 'bout we give 'em a chance. Livin' in a mansion, eatin' nice and sleepin' warm, and gettin' me a learnin' sounds mighty nice.'_

'_**Yes, let's see where this all leads to.'

* * *

**_

Naruto sighed. He'd ad no luck whatsoever in finding anyone who spoke Russian! I mean, how hard could it be to find someone who spoke one measly language? Apparently, it could be very hard.

'**_Hey, kit, the sun's beginning to set. You might want to be thinking of getting back to the house,' _**Kyuubi said.

'_No! If we just look a bit longer, I'm sure that we will find someone who speaks this damn language!' _Bawa protested.

'_Kyuubi's right,' _Naruto thought, _'it's getting late. We should head back.'_

'_But...'_

'**_Hey, brat, stop whining. It's two against one. And I'm not planning on picking a side,' _**Batty snapped, peeved at Bawa's oblivious attitude.

"Mica, Naruto is going to go back to the place that Naruto is staying now, since the sun is setting. Is such an action okay with Mica?" the blonde fox boy asked his companion, who happened to be hitching a ride on Naruto's shoulder.

The gray fox kit answered, "Mica would be happy to go to a place of rest. Mica is getting tired from staying up so late. Mica also thinks that Naruto should leave the big sword where the big sword was left, since Naruto at the moment wouldn't be able to use the big sword." Naruto nodded in agreement. Her logic made sense. He turned towards the house, temporarily giving up his search. He'd have to remember to ask Tazuna if he knew anyone who could speak Russian.

* * *

Neji started to trudge back to the mansion when he noticed the sun setting. He had brought a white shirt and white pants, with a black belt/leg protector thing to go over it. **(Imagine his part two outfit. Minus any hints of Hyuuga.) **He had also brought colored nonprescription contacts to hide the fact that he was a Hyuuga.

When he arrived at the mansion, he found, to his surprise, that they had even more houseguests. Koodori was hugging and cooing over a gray fox kit. The poor thing looked like it was about to choke to death. Naruto was trying to get her to loosen her grip. Tsunami and Hinata were fussing over an underfed street child, while Inari kept on trying to cajole her into a conversation. Tazuna was nowhere in sight.

"Did I miss something?" Neji asked.

Koodori looked over, not concentrating on the kit for a few seconds, giving it time to escape. "Yeah! Tsunami, Hinata, and I found Koneko, the girl over there, while we were out shopping. We decided to bring her home. Naruto here came home with this cute little fox kit, Mica, ridding on his shoulder. Speaking of, where did she disappear to?" Koodori then began to look around for the vanished fox.

"Koodori scares Mica," Mica said from inside Naruto's pack. The others couldn't hear her, since she was, of course, speaking in fox.

"Koodori is just happy that Mica is with us," Naruto replied, fox grinning.

'**_Hey, kit, something smells off about that street kid,' _**Kyuubi said.

'_What d'ya mean, off?' _Bawa asked.

'**_She has two scents,' _**Kyuubi replied.

'_Huh? Why? How?' _Bawa questioned, confused.

'_Bawa, your thick headedness never ceases to astound me. It means that she's either a Jinchuuriki or an Esemono. And her scent doesn't have the taint of an Esemono.'_ Naruto explained.

Bawa mentally tilted his head. _'What's an Esemono?'_

'**_Someone who was born human but later in their life combined themselves with one or more demon spirits, turning themselves into a half demon.' _**Batty grumbled. How stupid could one person get?

"Hey, Koneko, is Koneko a Jinchuuriki?" Naruto asked, getting straight to the point. Koneko showed no outward signs of having heard him, but inwardly was in turmoil.

'_Should we trust 'im?' _she asked her inner demon.

'**_He also smells like a Jinchuuriki. He is speaking in fox, and his second scent is that of a fox. Just make him promise that he will do nothing to bring you harm and you should be fine,' _**Noraneko replied.

"Yes. Does fox boy promise to do Koneko no harm?" she asked.

"Yes, Naruto promises. Naruto will not do anything to bring cat girl harm or that has a high chance of hurting Koneko." Naruto reassured her. He found it amusing that she spoke cat better than English. One bonus about speaking in animal languages was that you could always tell the species of the one talking by which dialect they used.

"Okay. Who's Jinchuuriki is Naruto?" she asked.

"The Fox Lord Kyuubi no Kitsune. He's being an ass so I don't know his real name," Naruto grinned, making Noraneko start cracking up in Koneko's head.

'**_That's just like him,' _**she said. Noraneko, though not one of the demon lords or ladies, knew Kyuubi personally. She had fought beside him in the Thirteenth Great Demon War, after all.

"My demon is the lower class neko Noraneko," Koneko said.

'**_I know her! We fought together in the Thirteenth Great Demon War,'_** Kyuubi exclaimed.

'_Who the Hell has thirteen great wars?' _Naruto asked.

'**_That's why there aren't that many demons around today,' _**Kyuubi shrugged.

"Is Koneko on a friendly basis with Noraneko?" Naruto asked. He knew that the Bijuu could be real bastards, like Shukaku.

"Yup! Nora is very nice to Koneko," she replied. "Is Kyuubi nice to Naruto?"

"He's an egocentric bastard, but over all he's not too bad. Most of my problems with him stem from his I'm-oh-so-much-better-then-you attitude. As far as jackasses go, though, he's fairly nice."

"That's good," Koneko said. By this time it was only the two of them in the room. Tsunami and Hinata had gone off to make dinner, while Neji was in the library, studying. Tazuna was in his home office, working on plans. Mica had slipped off when no one was looking and was now snoozing on Naruto's bed. Koodori was God knows where, looking for something to do.

"Hey, Koneko, what kind of seal do you have?" Naruto asked. The two then spent the next half an hour or so talking about seals, people they had met, places they had been, and all sorts of other things.

"Hey, everyone, dinner's ready!" Tsunami called out. Naruto and Koneko spun around then rushed off to the dinner table. Food! Mica came racing down the stairs, skipping quite a few. She settled in the chair on Naruto's left, looking like she belonged.

Neji and Inari came down from upstairs. Inari settled in the chair across from Koneko. Neji sat to his left, across from Naruto. Koodori came inside and sat to Neji's left, across from Mica. Tazuna sat down at the head of the table. Hinata and Tsunami brought in the food then went to sit down in their separate seats. Tsunami was in between Inari and Koneko. Hinata was having a bit of a problem.

"Uh, excuse me, fox-san, but I would like to sit there," the shy Hyuuga said, too polite to dump the fox on the floor. Mica just blinked at her.

"Mica, Naruto thinks that that is Hinata's seat. Mica could probably sit on Hinata's lap, though." Naruto said.

Mica yipped in agreement and jumped onto the floor. Hinata half bowed to her and sat down, only to discover the devious kitsune's plan when she had a lapful of wriggling fur. Koodori and Koneko started giggling, while everyone else grinned.

Mica settled down into a comfortable position in Hinata's lap, and put her paws on the table, yipping. Hinata, at a loss as to what to do, started petting the excitable kit, causing her tail to wag back and forth really quickly, hitting Hinata in the face, which caused Koodori and Koneko to start giggling, Neji and Tazuna to start chuckling, and Inari and Naruto to start laughing.

"Aw, so cute!" Naruto said, making Hinata invent a whole new shade of red. Tsunami just started shaking her head, grinning.

'_She's pretty today,' _Naruto thought to the other inhabitants of his body. And indeed she was. Hinata had dressed in one of the outfits that Tsunami had brought for her. It was a purple V-necked shirt with translucent sleeves. The sleeves were a lavender color, and reached to Hinata's wrists, puffing out. The shirt itself was patterned with lowers and leaves. She was wearing low waist jeans. They were embroidered in an assortment of colored threads, and the patterns depicted cats frolicking happily. A decorative tri colored cloth belt complements the outfit. The girls had put a simple white headband on her, contrasting with her dark hair. She was wearing a pearl necklace and black pearl earrings. It wasn't the most stunning outfit ever, but it was a huge contrast from her normal attire.

"You look really pretty in that, Hinata-chan. You should wear stuff like that more often," Naruto said.

Hinata was blushing so much that she almost fainted. _'Naruto-kun thinks that _I'm _pretty!!!' _she thought.

After Hinata had gathered herself enough that she wouldn't faint and had thanked Naruto for his compliment, the rest of the dinner proceeded without too much fuss.

After dinner was over, everyone trudged up to his or her respective bed. Koneko would be sleeping on the couch for the time being, since they were out of spare beds. Mica curled up next to Naruto in his bed, taking up about half of the space, despite the fact that she was an isty bitsy fox kit.

* * *

(the next morning)

"Hey, Tazuna, do you know anyone who speaks Russian?" Naruto asked.

"Why would you need someone who speaks Russian?" Neji asked. They'd all gotten up on time today, and were all gathered 'round having breakfast.

"I need some parts of a riddle translated," Naruto explained, showing them the letter.

'**_I can speak Russian, Ko,' _**Nora told her host.

"No, I don't know anyone who speaks Russian. Sorry kid," Tazuna said.

"I know some 'un," Koneko said.

"Really?" Koodori asked.

Koneko nodded. "Yup, one o' me friends." To Naruto she added, "Nora speaks Russian quite fluently apparently." 

Naruto inclined his head. "Could you take me to meet this friend of yours sometime today?" he asked.

"Sure," she replied.

"Hey, Koneko, is it okay if we buy you clothes without you being there?" Tsunami asked. If she was helping Naruto with the translations she'd probably be busy for a while.

"No prob'," the neko's container answered.

The group all went their separate ways, Koodori and Tsunami to buy clothes for Koneko, Hinata and Neji to train, Inari and Tazuna to school or work. Naruto gave the riddle to Koneko to translate. She had it finished in about half a minute.

"Huh, cool," she said, inserting the meanings of words into the text. The final result was: Some will say do not sea, but that is where you shall find the first clue. The path will lead you to the snake'slair. The two leg fish will show you entrance, but beware of red herrings. Monsters they are called, though do not be deceived by the color of their scales.

'_What the heck does that mean?' _Bawa asked.

'**_Well, the first two lines probably mean that we will find it somewhere nearby the sea,' _**Kyuubi said.

'_Snake's lair reminds me of Orochimaru, and two leg fish of that Akatsuki guy, Kisame,' _Naruto added.

'**_There are many snakes in this world, and probably more than one two leg fish. The riddle also says to beware of red herrings. We can't jump to conclusions,' _**Kyuubi warned.

'_Uh, guys, what does red herring mean?' _Bawa asked.

'**_A red herring is something that's fake, stupid,' _**Batty snapped, irked by how utterly idiotic Bawa was. How the hell could you be a moron when both of your alter egos are incredibly smart?

'_Don't call me stupid!' _Bawa shouted.

Kyuubi growled. **_'Shut up, you two!' _**

Koneko had been staring blank eyed at the piece of paper for about a minute now. "Nora says that there's a group o' fish demons dat live some'air close ta tha shore. Their rankin' is based on scale color. She ain't able ta remember where, though."

"Really? That could be what this is referring to. I'm going to go get a map," he said, climbing up the stairs. If he was planning on finding a map it would probably be in Tazuna's office.

Naruto came down about fifteen minutes later, having finally located a map. Koneko was sitting in the same position he had left her in. The only difference was that there was a previously full box of cookies lying emptily next to her hand. "Didn't save any cookies for me?" he asked.

"There's more in tha kitchen," she replied.

Naruto shrugged and sat down, spreading the map out in front of them. "The likely looking places are the Sea Country, Water Country, Moon Country, Tea Country, and Wave Country. We should look to see if any of these places have snake Jinchuuriki, fish Jinchuuriki, native snakes, fish hybrids, fish demons, or ninja that are fish or snake orientated."

"Okay," Koneko agreed. "I'll ask some o' the uh-tha kids if dey've 'eard anything."

"I can't do much right now, so I'm going to go train," Naruto said. Koneko nodded.

The two then split up, one heading to town, the other to a secluded clearing. Naruto took with him the scroll that he'd sealed the other scrolls into. He arrived at the very clearing that he and his team had trained in last time they were here in a matter of minutes. He figured that this was out of the way enough.

Naruto formed a few seals and called out, **"Gizensha Bunshin no jutsu!" **causing Bawa to form outside of his body in doppelganger form, before solidifying into an almost exact copy of Naruto. This one lacked the whiskers, though. "You practice the Hyoton. I'm going to look through these scrolls," Naruto said. Bawa nodded and walked away a bit.

Naruto then opened the scroll and drew some blood across the seal that the Forbidden Scroll was held behind. When he had it in his possession, he summoned nine shadow clones, making for a total of ten of him. He told each one to create their own clones and have each group learn a different jutsu. He ended up having close to a thousand clones spread out around various clearings in the forest in groups of a hundred, working on their separate jutsus.

The sun had started to set when he dismissed all of his clones. A battered and bruised Bawa regrouped with him. "How far did you get?" Naruto asked, curious.

"I can make the water a lot colder, and hold that for an entire minute now!" Bawa boasted. It didn't sound like much, but Bawa wasn't very good at copying bloodlines and then mastering them yet, and any progress he made with Hyoton was shaky and hardly worth the effort. If he actually managed to master it, though, that'd be a whole other story.

"Let's head back," Naruto said. Bawa nodded and dismissed the jutsu.

'**_You two do know that tonight's the night of the new moon, right?' _**Kyuubi reminded them.

'_I'd been hoping that you'd forget,' _Naruto said. He knew that that was extremely unlikely, of course.

'**_Yeah, right. Like I'd forget something as important as freedom, as temporary as it may be,' _**Kyuubi snarled.

'_I can dream, can't I?' _Naruto asked. Kyuubi just shrugged. The fox boy then set off for the mansion, looking forward to dinner, seeing as how he'd managed to forget to eat lunch.

'_I'm hungry,' _Bawa whined.

'**_Yes, and that's why we're going to get some food, baka,' _**Batty replied.

'_Stop arguing, you two,' _Naruto scolded.

This continued for the rest of the run back, the two alter egos not shutting up until they arrived home and smelled food. This dinner went pretty much the same way, with everyone talking and Mica acting cute. Koneko told Naruto that she'd found a couple of rumors, but it was nothing certain yet. It would take a few more days to confirm anything worthwhile. Naruto didn't mind overmuch, though. He could use the time to train. He still hadn't managed to master any of the techniques found in the Forbidden Scroll, after all.

Oh, and Kyuubi was sure to remind him before he went to sleep of their deal. So, therefore, the fox got one night to run around pranking people. Yup. A millennia old fox was pulling quite childish pranks. Though, if you think about it, that is typical fox behavior.

* * *

**Translations:**

**Koneko- kitten**

**Noraneko- stray or alley cat**

**Jinchuuriki- literally 'power of human sacrifice'. someone who has a demon sealed in them**

**bijuu- tailled beast. basically a demon**

**Esemono- fake, conterfeit, that kind of stuff. like Naruto said, this is someone who started out as human and then combimned themselves with demon(s) later on, turning themselves into a half demon. In my story people who do ths are considered evil**

**neko- cat**

**kitsune- fox**

**kyuubi- nine tail**

**Gizensha Bunshin no Jutsu- fox in a lamb's clothing clone technique. Naruto uses this to bring out his inner selves and temporaril give them physical bodies**


End file.
